Misunderstandings
by NeonDomino
Summary: Faced with some life-changing news, Hermione decides to leave the Wizarding World. Though one Wizard in particular isn't willing to let her go so easily. Hermione/Remus.
1. Chapter 1

Written for:

Hogwarts - Ancient Runes - Task 3: Write about someone taking on a great responsibility.

Hogwarts - Mother's Day Challenge - A woman learning she's pregnant

Hogwarts - Writing Club - Days of the Month - Get Over It Day - Write about someone getting over something.

* * *

 **So, I have a list of 15 prompts for the Mother's Day Challenge over on the Hogwarts Forum. This collection may be over 15 chapters as I want to do some from Remus' POV too, where possible. All the stories will relate to each other.  
**

* * *

 **Misunderstandings  
**

 _Thanks to Lizzy for betaing_

* * *

"Food poisoning," Hermione muttered, stumbling out of the bathroom and past Harry. "I ate something that didn't agree with me."

Harry stared after her and Hermione risked glancing back. She knew there was more to it than that, but she didn't want to tell Harry. She didn't want to admit what had happened to her.

She didn't want to admit to anyone that she allowed herself to fall for someone who clearly didn't feel as strongly as she did: someone who broke her heart without a second thought. Someone who possibly left her with a little something unintentionally… though she didn't want to think about _that_ until she had seen the healer.

"Hermione, I'm going away tomorrow," Harry said, following her. "I need to know you're okay. Let me take you to the healer before I go."

"Harry, I've got an appointment in two days. I promise I'll let you know if something is wrong," Hermione insisted. "I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself."

Harry nodded reluctantly. "If you say so," he replied. "But I want an owl the second you find out."

"An owl would give away your undercover status, wouldn't it?"

"Fine. I'll floo call you in two days," Harry decided. "You'll tell me if something is wrong, right?"

"I will," Hermione assured him, knowing that if something was wrong, Harry was one of the last people who would be told.

...oOo...

Hermione suspected what the healer was going to say before the woman even finished casting her spells to check Hermione over. So when the healer announced Hermione was pregnant, she wasn't surprised in the slightest. It only confirmed what she already thought. After all, the sickness had lasted almost a month, then there was the obvious clue: her monthly missing 'friend', aunt Flo, as her mother liked to refer to it as. Plus, the smell of oranges made her feel ill and had her rushing to the bathroom.

The healer was excited to share the news and expected Hermione to share the enthusiasm, but all Hermione could think about was what she was going to do now. It was one thing suspecting that she was pregnant. It was another to find out she actually was.

There was no doubt in her mind that she was going to keep the baby. A child that was both hers and… well, not that the father would want to know. He had made it very clear his thoughts on having children and marriage… and even telling people they were involved, preferring to treat what they had as a sordid affair rather than the amazing relationship Hermione viewed it as.

As the healer rambled on, Hermione tried to push the concerns from her mind. She didn't need to think about how she was going to manage this and who she'd tell. Instead she thought about a small girl or boy with her hair and _his_ eyes. She thought about reading stories to her child when tucking them into bed at night. She pictured that child going away to Hogwarts.

A smile appeared on her face as she thought about teaching this child all she knew about magic and literature. Their child would love learning just as much as she did and would love reading books. How could they not, considering that their two parents shared those interests.

The more she thought about it, the more excited she became. Yes, it would be hard and she would have to make large sacrifices, but it would all be worth it.

She tuned back in as the healer explained the purpose of the potions she was being given, listening carefully to the instructions given to her. She didn't want to mess anything up and knew potions were a risky business when it came to pregnancy.

A parchment was pushed into her hand regarding safety in pregnancy and before she knew it, she was being led out of the room.

...oOo...

It took Hermione all of a few minutes to realise that she'd really be alone in her choice. She was famous unfortunately, and being famous and a single mother would cause stress were anyone to see her bump. Plus, there were still Death Eaters out there and she wasn't just looking to protect herself anymore. She was responsible for one other life now.

She would have to leave. Leave all her friends, leave Grimmauld Place. In fact, she'd have to leave the Wizarding World permanently. The muggle world would be the safest place for them both because she could start over.

And Harry… she couldn't tell him because if she did… well, the truth would come out and Harry would be at odds with one of the few people he had left that he considered family. Hermione didn't want to be the cause of destroying that relationship for him. No, she would stay silent on the matter. She would leave quietly and without a fuss. She'd let everyone forget about her.

As for the baby's father - well, he didn't want kids. He didn't want her. Therefore, there was no point in telling him anything.

She would just do it alone. Besides, she wouldn't be alone for long. Soon she'd have a baby and that baby growing inside of her was more important than anything.

...oOo...

"So, how are you?" Harry asked from the fire.

"The doctor has me down as fine. She thinks it's an allergy," Hermione lied. "I'm going back in for tests before I leave."

"Leave?" Harry repeated quickly. "Where are you going?"

"Yeah," Hermione said, nodding her head. "I'm going to find my parents in Australia."

"Hermione, Australia is a big place. Do you think… maybe you should wait until I'm back. I'll go with you. We can bring everyone. Ron will come. Sirius too and Remus would want to—"

"Harry, let me do this," Hermione snapped, quickly losing patience. "I'm not going to get hurt or lost. I'm fully capable of looking after myself."

Harry looked guilty at her words. "I know," he replied carefully. "But I can't help but worry about you. I'm just thinking that you could be searching for years and not find them and I'd like to help you because all you've done over the years is help me."

"I'm sorry, Harry," Hermione murmured, feeling guilty about snapping and losing her patience with him. "Look, I'm going to Australia. Give me some time there. If I don't find them… well, I'll send word of where I am so you can come and help me."

Harry agreed and wished her luck before finishing up the firecall. Hermione got up from where she was sitting on the floor and took a deep breath, preparing herself.

The house was empty, both Sirius and Remus out on missions with Harry, so Hermione took the opportunity to take everything she would need from the house. She had already withdrawn her money from Gringotts and closed the account, putting everything into a muggle account instead. She had checked her parents' old house and quickly cleaned it all, ready for her to move in.

She had hired a private investigator to find her parents. The best she could find, and had already spoken to the Australian Ministry rep who had portkeyed over to meet with her.

Finally she headed into Remus' bedroom and glanced around, searching. He had given her a book when they had been together which she had returned to him when he had ended things with her.

But now… she wanted it. It was something she could give to her child. She didn't want to search through his stuff, so she quickly accio'ed the book, watching it fly from on top of Remus' dresser. In its place, she placed a charmed candle. It was lit, but the flame was charmed so nothing could catch alight.

It had been a gift she had planned to give to Remus when they were together, but there was never a perfect time for it. Once they were over, she considered throwing it in the bin.

But now, it could be a parting gift. Maybe he'd realise that her feelings for him were very much real. Maybe he'd think about her when she was gone.

Her eyes drifted one last time over the words inscribed in the candle, glistening as though light was shining through them.

 _'For as long as this flame burns, you'll have my heart.'_

Hermione shook her head. She wasn't going to worry about Remus Lupin now. All she needed to think about was her transition back to the muggle world and her (and her baby's) health.

She clutched the magical copy of Alice in Wonderland in her hands and left the room. Her bag was already waiting by the front door.

She grabbed it and walked out of Grimmauld Place, knowing she wouldn't be returning anytime soon - if ever.


	2. Chapter 2

Written for: Hogwarts - Mother's Day Challenge - A woman holding her child for the first time.

* * *

 **Misunderstandings  
**

 _Thanks to Shannon for betaing_

* * *

Hermione reached up to her bushy mane of hair, pushing the sweaty locks from her forehead. Her breath was laboured and she was exhausted.

"Your son," the midwife said, and Hermione held her arms out awkwardly and allowed the woman to place a bundle into them. Hermione looked down at the baby and found herself unable to say anything.

She had never seen anything more perfect in her life than the baby wiggling in her arms.

"Oberon Zachery," she murmured.

"A lovely name," the midwife said. "Does it have a meaning?"

"Oberon is the name of a moon. It's also a Shakespeare character. Zachery is the name of my father."

"Are you ready for the other baby?"

Hermione nodded and shifted her son onto one of her arms so the other bundle could be placed on her other. "A girl," the midwife said. "One of each, isn't that wonderful?"

Hermione nodded, though she thought it was just wonderful having two healthy children and that their gender didn't quite matter. "Juliet Hope," she said decidedly, realising that there were two most perfects sights ever. "When can I go home?"

"Two days," the midwife said. "There are a lot of checks and getting your children registered."

Hermione nodded. "They're so quiet," she murmured.

"They recognise your magic and it's comforting to them," the midwife told her. "It's the most calming thing for children. It won't last—soon they'll be demanding to be fed and will need changing—but right now they'll be content in your arms. I'll leave you to it. If you need anything, just let someone know. Also, congratulations. They are both beautiful."

Hermione smiled down at her bundles. Oberon Zachery Granger and Juliet Hope Granger… she frowned at the names. Should she use Lupin instead? Even if Remus didn't want to be a parent, would the children prefer his name when they grew up?

No, she decided. They would be Grangers.

...oOo...

"State the first name," the registrar said, poising the quill over the parchment before letting go, leaving it hovering: waiting for Hermione to speak.

"Oberon," Hermione replied. "The middle name is Zachery. As for the…" she trailed off, her eyes watching the name 'Lupin' appear without her stating it. Before she could correct the registrar, she watched the quill add the information of both her and Remus.

"I was planning on Granger," she said, her eyes widening as she looked at the man.

"There are still old laws over names. Children will always have their father's names regardless of whether they're in the picture," the registrar explained in a tone that showed he had to explain this a lot to people. "Godparents?"

"Oh. Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley," Hermione decided. She waited until the quill stopped writing and was placed on the second parchment.

"Juliet Hope," she said. "Godparents are Sirius Black and Luna Lovegood." After all, who else would she trust with her children more than these four?

...oOo...

Hermione arrived home in a car provided by the hospital. She had been wary at first, but less so when the driver cheerfully told her that he was a squib and had learnt to drive at seventeen.

The journey didn't take too long and Hermione was glad to walk through the front door that she was so familiar with, though it still saddened her because her parents weren't there. She knew that there was a chance they would never be found, but wouldn't allow herself to think about that until she had news.

She pushed the door closed with her foot and carried the babies through to the living room, easily managing the two carriers. Magic had its advantages after all. The babies were gently lifted out, swaddled in their blankets and placed in the cot at the side of the room.

Hermione stood over the cot and stared at them. The pair had been little angels in the hospital, but she had already been warned that this wouldn't last at all. Various staff had looked at her sympathetically when spotting two children and Hermione was worried about failing. After all: this wasn't like failing exams. This was so much more important.

As she turned to walk away to make herself a much needed cup of tea, she heard Juliet stirring. Hermione turned back, eagerly looking towards her daughter.

Amber eyes opened and found her. Seconds later, a second set of Amber eyes opened. Hermione could only stare at her beautiful children in awe.

Then the babies began to scream for attention.

Maybe there wasn't time for that cup of tea after all.

* * *

 **Review Please :)**


	3. Chapter 3

Written for:

Well, this chapter was not written for the challenge. The story is getting away from me a bit and I really want to write Remus' pov...

* * *

 **Misunderstandings  
**

 _Thanks to Lizzy for betaing_

* * *

Remus watched Harry talk to Hermione in the floo and forced himself not to ask how Hermione was doing. He had noticed a change in her behaviour. It wasn't just to do with their breakup, there was something on her mind. Something worrying her, though he hadn't been around to find out what it was.

After all, he was living in the same house as the girl whose heart he had broken Of course he wasn't going to be there constantly to remind her of the mistake she made by trusting him with her heart in the first place.

"Australia?" Harry asked and Remus clenched his teeth together, forcing himself not to comment. Harry was right: Australia was too big and she shouldn't go alone, but from Harry's side of the conversation, it was clear that Hermione wasn't taking no for an answer.

When Harry finally finished on the floo conversation, he relayed the conversation to both him and Sirius. Remus wasn't sure why, but it didn't sit well with him. Something was off, somehow.

But there was nothing he could do about it. Hermione needed space to move on from him. Once she did, she'd have the chance to be happy. She could fall in love, get married and have children. She could have a great job and the life she deserved.

It was better than what he could offer her. If she had stayed with him, she'd be shunned or looked down upon by a lot of the wizarding world, because people despised what Remus was. She'd be with someone who wasn't worthy of her. Someone who was too old. Someone poor (though now not as much as before). Someone who didn't deserve to even walk in her shadow. He was nothing compared to Hermione and by breaking her heart, he was actually giving her up so she could do better, like he knew she could.

Whilst she stayed with him, he was just taking up time she could be using to find something better.

...oOo...

Harry frowned, walking into the kitchen, letter in hand. He glanced at Sirius who was leaning against the counter, before turning his gaze to Remus. "Sirius, Remus… I'm worried."

Remus set down his cup of tea. "What about?" he asked, as Sirius came over to sit at the table.

"Hermione has stopped writing," Harry said. "More than that, the letter got sent back to me - the last one I sent to her. It was undeliverable. So she's either refusing my letters, or unable to get them. I'm worried about her."

Sirius stared at the letter in Harry's hand for a long moment a pensive expression on his face. "When was the last letter?" he asked.

Harry dropped down into a seat at the table. "To be honest, there haven't been many letters since Hermione went. Just a few saying she found her parents, that getting their memories back was going to take a while. The last one was about three months ago. It said her parents were happy in Australia and that she was going to stay there with them for a while… but nothing since. I've sent her four letters between then and now without response. This one is the first to come back."

"Maybe the owl got confused?" Sirius suggested, though his expression showed that he didn't believe his own words for a second.

"Or maybe something has happened to her," Remus muttered, hating the words that came out of his mouth. "I know you both like to think Hermione can get through anything, but I feel like we should look into this. For peace of mind, we need to get in contact with her… do you have an address or any contact details, Harry?"

"No address, but she did mention something about having hired a private investigator to help her, back in her first letter," Harry said. "I could start calling around and see if I can find out who that was?"

"Good idea," Sirius said. "I'll call an Order meeting in case anyone has any ideas. Remus, help me round everyone up. Tell them there's a meeting tonight."

Remus nodded. He grabbed his cup and tipped the remainder of the tea down the sink and left the cup on the side. He didn't have time to drink that whilst searching for Hermione.

...oOo...

"I should have known something was up," Harry said, running his hands through his messy hair in frustration. "The letters didn't make sense."

"In what way?" Neville asked, looking quite worried.

"They were short," Harry replied. "These letters she's sent to me since leaving for Australia were very short. That's not like her. I mean, I remember during the Easter holidays when I didn't see her for two weeks and I got three letters, as long as her school essays."

"How short?" Ginny asked.

"Only a couple of sentences. One says _'I've arrived in Australia and I've hired a private detective to help me find my parents. I won't need your help as I'm sure we'll find them in no time.'_ Another is: _'I've found them! It's going to take time to restore their memories though.'_ and of course, her last one."

He held it up, showing the one sentence. " _'My parents love it here in Australia, so I'm going to stay with them here for a while._ '" Harry read, before looking around. "I was a bit uncertain at the time but I did a spell. Hermione definitely wrote these. I assumed that she was so busy with her parents that she didn't have time to draft a long message."

"What we need to do is establish a timeline," Remus insisted, before Kingsley could speak. "We should work out Hermione's movements and track her that way. We follow her trail and at some point we'll find her."

"How would we do that?" Fred asked, looking quite serious.

"We start with the last place we saw her. Here," Remus said. "Harry spoke to her and she said she was leaving to go to Australia. So our first job is to find out what day and time she went there and where she ended up. Once we have that information, we work out our next step."

Kingsley nodded in agreement. "Remus, you and Sirius get onto that. I'll get in contact with the Australian Embassy today. They should have a record of her arrival. We can meet again tomorrow to discuss."

"Also, if she was restoring her parents memories, she'd have had to contact a professional mind-healer," Arthur pointed out. "Hannah, do you talk to anyone in Australia?"

Hannah shook her head. "I can ask my boss," she offered. "But I'm not in touch with any of the hospitals."

"Get me a portkey and I'll head there myself," Tonks offered. "Kingsley, you may want to get permission from the Australian Ministry to allow me to get any hospital records for Hermione and her parents."

"Of course. What were Hermione's parents names again?" Kingsley asked, turning to Harry.

"Zachery and Jean Granger, but I'm coming with you," Harry replied. He looked around the room at everyone. "We meet back here tomorrow at the same time," he insisted. "Sooner if we have big news."

The group disbanded, each member determined to make an effort to find Hermione.

"So Moony," Sirius murmured once the room cleared. "What did you do to scare your little minx away?"

* * *

 **Review Please :)**


	4. Chapter 4

A/N - I was asked in a review about Dean Thomas and his birth certificate.

I had actually thought about that whilst I was writing the previous chapter.

The reason why Dean Thomas has his mother's surname is because his mother was a muggle and didn't have magic. She also didn't know about magic - we know that Dean didn't know if he was a muggleborn or a half-blood, so that supports his mother not knowing about Dean's father's magic - so she would have had Dean in a muggle hospital. His birth certificate would have been a muggle certificate and filled in the same way as any of our birth certificates were filled in.

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS REVIEWED. I'm sorry I haven't sent a thank you message to you all - real life is a bit crazy! I'll try and get on that soon. :)

Also - this was supposed to have a side pairing of Harry/Luna, until this chapter somehow ended up mentioning Sirius/Luna. I'm not going to put much focus on that pairing though.

* * *

 **Misunderstandings  
**

 _Thanks to Lizzy for betaing_

* * *

Bob Yorke at the the portkey office was quick to get the information for the day that Remus and Sirius suspected Hermione to have left the country. Bob tapped the file with his wand and opened it, causing two sheets to slip out from amongst the others and land on the top of the folder as he shut it again. **  
**

"These are for your day," Bob said, reaching up to adjust his glasses.

Remus grabbed the top one and looked it over and Sirius took the other. Neither had Hermione's name on them.

"Are you sure this is all?" Sirius asked.

Bob nodded. "Two authorised portkeys."

"What about unauthorized?" Remus asked.

"There were none on that day," Bob told them. "We have records of unauthorised portkeys. We can't stop them being made, but they flag up immediately upon use and the parchment changes colour depending on the outcome of our investigation."

"So the paperwork could be elsewhere?" Remus asked.

"No. A copy would be put into this file," Bob told them. "Every portkey use is in there, unauthorised and authorised. If these aren't what you're looking for, perhaps you have the date wrong?"

"Yeah, maybe she was delayed?" Remus suggested to Sirius. He turned to Bob. "Okay, can we have everything starting from two days before and ending exactly a month later."

"A month and three days," Sirius corrected him. "That's the day we all got back from the mission."

"Good idea," Remus said as Bob turned back to his filing cabinet.

...oOo...

"So she didn't portkey," Sirius said as they left the portkey office. "She must have gone another way."

"Airplane?" Remus suggested.

"Don't those things take hours?"

"To Australia, yes," Remus agreed, frowning. "Broomstick, but that's still a far distance."

Sirius glanced at the door next to them. "Floo?"

"You can't floo all of the way there—" Remus began to argue.

"You can't, but she could have flooed from Dover to Calais as there's a floo route between the two, or from—"

"No," Remus interrupted, shaking his head. "She'd have gone directly there by portkey. If she was floo-hopping, that means she didn't want us to know where she was."

Sirius sighed. "Remus, maybe she doesn't want us to know where she is?"

"I don't care," Remus replied. "I'm going to find her and make sure she's safe… and… and grovel and beg for forgiveness."

"Good man," Sirius said, grinning widely. "But we should still go in. We can get a log of places she went and anyone she called."

"Isn't that invading her privacy?"

"Yes, but we're only doing it because she's missing," Sirius said. "We start from the day she contacted Harry because we know she was in the house that day, until the day we returned."

Remus turned towards the door and opened it. He was quick to walk to the nearest desk where a girl looked up and smiled at the both of them.

"Can I help you?" she asked, her eyes lingering on Sirius.

Sirius shot her his best smile. "Hello love, we're after some information on my floo. We need a record of all the use from the fireplace for the last… eight months."

The girl nodded. "Sure. Here's a request form. I can get that information to you in two weeks—"

"It's an emergency," Remus said.

"Miss…" Sirius glanced at the name written on her desk. "Miss Stainton, I'm Sirius Black." He watched her eyes widen at the mention of his name and tried to deduce whether it was best to flirt for the information or if her work-ethic was more important to her. "I hate to ask since you're clearly busy in here, but it's an emergency that I get that information as soon as possible. Kingsley has me tasked with searching for information and this is vital to my investigation."

She hesitated and Sirius leaned down onto the desk.

"And of course the Minister himself will be notified of your quick and efficient assistance."

She glanced down at the parchment in front of her. "I have to finish this up first, it's due in an hour," she murmured uncertainly.

"Of course. We wouldn't expect you to drop everything. Like I said, we know you're very busy. Me and my friend were going to go and have some brunch. So, if we come back in about… two hours?"

Mary Stainton nodded her head. "Two hours is fine," she said.

"Also, you could hand-deliver them to the Minister at that time," Sirius suggested. "I'm sure he'd want to see who went out of their way to help him."

Mary eagerly nodded and turned back to her work and began to write a little more quickly. The sooner she finished what she was working on, the sooner she could get to the records, though she knew they'd take a while to retrieve. After all, there was a supervisor's job that she was hoping for and perhaps this would give her the edge over the other candidates.

Sirius and Remus left the office, and Mary finished the report in twenty-five minutes and rushed to the records room to get what Sirius Black had requested. She made sure to put them in the hands of the Minister directly.

...oOo...

Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were in a cafe in Diagon Alley, waiting impatiently. Remus had barely sipped at his hot chocolate and the wonderful drink was going cold on the table as he tapped his fingers against his leg impatiently.

"I should have asked Harry about her," Remus finally muttered, his gaze on the table.

"I should have asked too," Sirius said, shrugging. "We've learnt the hard way that we can't change the past, Remus. Hindsight is 20/20."

"But if I had—"

"Harry was getting letters from Hermione. They were short, but there were letters and he even confirmed she had written them. If she was in danger, she'd have somehow told him. She's smart and would have somehow managed to put a hint in the letter. She didn't so I'm convinced she sent those letters when safe. We had no reason to question the letters. Perhaps she was with her parents and catching up on so much, she didn't have time to write?"

"But—"

"Remus, why do you always need to blame yourself? Isn't it time you just accept that sometimes no-one is really in the wrong. Yes, you shouldn't have pushed her away, but the whole letter thing isn't on anyone. We'll find her."

"What if we don't?"

"We will," Sirius assured him. "We do what you said and follow her trail. Once we have this report, we meet everyone she spoke with, and everyone she visited, before she headed to Australia. If I have to, I'll go to Australia and spend the rest of my life walking around as Padfoot trying to catch her scent."

"Hopefully it doesn't come to that," Remus said, snorting at the idea. "If her parents had their minds healed, we should be able to get her information from the hospital and if not, we at least know _which_ hospital and have an idea on what area Hermione would be in. But hopefully the floo reports help."

"Whatever it takes, I'm going to make sure you and Hermione are together again."

"But I—"

"Do I have to hit you again?" Sirius asked, rolling his eyes. "Remus, I don't think there's anyone that deserves a girl like Hermione. She's too good for the lot of us, but anyone else would realise that they've got this amazing chance if Hermione wants to be with them. You… you did the complete opposite of what any other man would do, and you scared her away. You should have made it so she'd never want to leave."

"She wanted marriage and kids," Remus murmured. "Maybe marriage was an option one day, if we lasted… but you know I can't have kids—"

"Nothing proven," Sirius insisted.

"Some children have turned," Remus insisted. "Some have been in agony on the full moon too."

"Some have been like Bill," Sirius replied with a shrug. "Also, you're talking about the one-percent. The majority of children are perfectly fine. There are benefits. Some are more in tune with things going on around them, some have quicker reflexes and some have better eyesight or smell."

"Why risk it?" Remus asked. "What would I do if we stayed together and she eventually got pregnant? A child that turns into a Werewolf too? I couldn't do that to her."

"Instead you break her heart and make her run away. Good call," Sirius snapped. He shook his head as Remus opened his mouth to speak. "I get it, Moony. You didn't want to tie her down. Me and… well, I've gone out to dinner a few times with Harry's friend, Luna. Harry actually set us up on the dinner, so he's not thinking age difference is a problem, he wants us to be happy. My point is that I've spent all this time in Azkaban and we all know that I have bad days when I lock myself in my room and can't bear the world… I know a girl like Luna is out of my league. I can charm them and I can flirt, but until Luna, that's all I could do. Now I've found a girl who shines so brightly, I forget about the darkness when I'm around her, and there is no way I'm pushing her away, not in the slightest. I don't want her to see a mess of a man who has a drinking problem so I'm not going to be that man. I'm going to show her what's good about me and why she should stay with me."

"You and Luna?" Remus asked, his eyes widening in shock.

"That's all you have to say?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrows. "My point is that I've met a beautiful girl. Yes, she's only eighteen, but I enjoy her company and I'm determined to not screw it up because I know I'm happy with her and I'm certain that I can make her happy too. As for you: you chose to push Hermione away because you thought she'd be happier with someone else, but she's nineteen now. At nineteen, James and Lily were getting married and talking about kids. At nineteen, we were fighting Death Eaters. Hermione has already fought in a war. She's not a little kid who doesn't know what she wants, she's a grown woman with more grasp on her life and what she wants, than some people who have are older than us! By pushing her away, you've been selfish. You've not been thinking about Hermione, not really. Because if you had, you'd have taken her feelings for you into consideration and you'd have focused on what Hermione wants and not your own feelings."

"I did what was best," Remus stated firmly, though he could see how right Sirius was. If he admitted Sirius was right, he'd be admitting how much he screwed up, though he really did and he knew it.

"Moony, Luna may dump me tomorrow, or we might last three years before she does," Sirius replied. "We may even last ten, but I know to be prepared for that day. Until that day comes, I'm going to be happy that Luna's even given me a chance. I'm going to enjoy the time with her until she ends it, instead of ending it now and making us both miserable. Maybe Hermione would have ended it at some point, maybe not. But you've taken the choice away from her whether to be with you or not. You could have been happy for as long as Hermione wanted to be with you."

"She still does," Remus admitted softly. "She left a candle… as long as she loves me, the flame will burn. The flame hasn't flickered once."

Sirius grinned. "See, here I thought it was wild wolfy sex you were having. Didn't realise you were in love. Now, love is something bigger. That candle wouldn't light if she didn't truly love you. So you are going to find her and get down on your knees and beg her forgiveness."

"Sirius—"

"No," Sirius replied firmly. "I expect to see you happy and what's happiness without a massive amount of begging and grovelling at the feet of the woman you love until she forgives you for fucking up."

"Well, you'd be the expert in that," Remus mumbled.

"Of course I am!" Sirius exclaimed happily, slapping Remus on the back.

The pair were interrupted from their conversation as Kingsley's patronus approached.

"The report has arrived," came his deep, booming voice.

Sirius and Remus got up from the seat and quickly left the cafe, heading back towards the Leaky Cauldron where they flooed back to the Ministry.

...oOo...

Kingsley was reading the report as the pair walked in. A quill dripping neon-yellow ink was floating next to him.

He reached for it and marked off several lines.

"You had her leaving date correct," Kingsley said. "The last floo calls were made that day."

"Okay, so is there anything there?" Remus asked, taking a seat on the other side of the desk.

"There is," Kingsley said. "Hunter Morgan and his business address. He's an Australian Private Investigator but he lives and works in England. I suspect Hermione chose him because of his knowledge of Australia. Also, Diamantina Bell."

"Diamantina?" Sirius said, snorting. "What kind of name is that?"

"That's the name of a river in Queensland," Remus pointed out. "Which isn't unusual."

"You are right. She's a pureblood and her family have a similar tradition to yours with names," Kingsley said. "I'll be in touch with her and get back to you all at the meeting this evening. Sirius, go and visit Hunter Morgan and find out what he knows about Hermione. Remus, take this letter and go down to the apparition squad. Have them investigate whether there was any apparition within half a mile of Grimmauld Place. They may take a while as apparition is not monitored, but they can compile the information. Stress that it's important."

"Wouldn't I be better of going with Sirius to see Hunter—"

Kingsley shook his head. "He's a pureblood and might be more willing to help Sirius than you," he said. "Sorry, Remus, I know you care about Hermione, but prejudice still runs through some people's blood and right now we have to do what we can to convince people to give us the information on Hermione."

"I understand," Remus agreed. "I'll let you know what I find out."

...oOo...

The meeting was a disappointment. No-one had any information and Kingsley was waiting to hear back from the Australian Ministry regarding any hospital records for the Granger family, and from Hermione's contact there, who was out sick.

Hunter's secretary was a frazzled woman practically drowning in paperwork who admitted that Hunter liked to disappear on jobs and not check in for months on end without filling in any paperwork until he returned. She had no knowledge of where he was until he contacted her. She did however send a owl with a message for him.

Remus had nothing to report either.

"Sirius, tomorrow, can you get your friend from the floo office to get a report on Hunter's floo since a week before Hermione left. Harry, I've heard news on Death Eater activity. Ron's injured so you take Neville with you. Stay behind after the meeting and I'll brief you."

"But Hermione…"

"The Auror's priority is the Death Eaters that are still at large. The rest of the Order will search for Hermione," Kingsley insisted. He looked around the room. "Any other suggestions on how to proceed?"

There was no answer and everyone left except Kingsley, Neville and Harry.

...oOo...

Hermione huffed as she pushed the heavy pram up the street to the bus stop. She missed flooing places, but couldn't with her children. Instead, she had to push a double pram around the place, her arms aching already.

She arrived at the bus stop and sat down on the bench, hoping the children wouldn't wake up anytime soon. Shopping was easier without dragging the pair of them out, and she estimated three hours before she'd need to feed them again. If she was quick, she could get her shopping and get home in two and a half hours.

Thankfully the bus pulled up two minutes later. Hermione headed to the front and asked the driver if she could get on the back doors, knowing it was easier to get the pram on that way.

The doors were opened and Hermione put her weight on the back of the pram, lifting the front onto the bus. She quickly stepped up and pushed the pram into the buggy space, before pushing her foot on the brake. She glanced around briefly before walking to the front of the bus and paying.

When she returned, a woman in the seat next to the pram space moved and Hermione thanked her, dropping down tiredly into the seat and placing a hand on the pram. She stared at the doors until she could see the shops.

She stood up, took the brakes off the pram and joined the crowd who were getting off the bus.

...oOo...

"Sorry," Hermione said, quickly pulling the pram back to avoid hitting someone in the legs as she tried to manoeuvre the pram around the corner of the shop. She grabbed the milk and put it in the basket balanced on her arm and continued walking, wondering why she hadn't ordered her shopping on the computer.

Oh yes. She thought she had been cooped up indoors too much and had clearly forgotten how hard shopping had been the previous week. The children had woken up fifteen minutes after she got to the shops and couldn't be calmed. They had stopped the second Hermione had walked through her front door after rushing home, giving up on the idea of buying anything at all.

So far they had stayed asleep.

Hermione headed to the till, carefully pushing the pram through the narrow space between the two counters. She stopped, waiting for someone to move their trolley before continuing.

"Bag?" the woman asked, clearly bored.

"Yes, please," Hermione replied, accepting the offered bag and shoving the milk and few other bits she had picked up into it and hanging it onto the handle of the pram. She handed over a ten-pound note and only glanced at the change before shoving it into her pocket and leaving.

It wasn't until she reached the pharmacy did the children decide to remind her that they were there. They both began screaming in unison making Hermione jump. She didn't look around, knowing that people would be either pitying her or looking at her snidely, noticing that her finger had no ring on it. The judgemental looks had upset her the previous trip out and she was certain her hormones were still in overdrive. There would be no looking at people and letting them upset her.

She rushed around the pram and dropped down to her knees, whilst pulling a toy from on top of the pram to hang down. Thankfully the twins' eyes focused on the toys in fascination and Hermione sighed in relief. She stood up again and walked to the handles of the pram.

She didn't notice the man watching her.

* * *

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	5. Chapter 5

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. I loved reading through them and seeing what you think.

I agree: Remus has a lot of making up to do because his behaviour towards his relationship to Hermione wasn't acceptable. But you have to remember that his life has basically consisted of low self-worth and self-doubt... not that this is any excuse of course.

* * *

 **Misunderstandings  
**

 _Thanks to Shannon for betaing_

* * *

Remus had barely slept since learning that Hermione had disappeared instead of going to search for her parents as she had informed Harry. He had wrongly assumed that she was taking her time, using it to get over him. He had watched the candle, just waiting for that to happen.

In fact, his eyes waiting for a flicker in the flame was partially the cause he was awake. The flame was just as strong as the day he had found the candle, indicating her feelings hadn't changed. Each day that passed proved to him that he was completely wrong about what they had - that it could have lasted because Hermione loved him.

And for that, the least he could do was ensure she was safe. He owed her that and so much more.

There was a knock on the door, dragging Remus out of his thoughts and he looked over the short man with brown hair who had walked in.

"What have I done to garner the attention of the Minister of Magic?" the man asked.

"Mr Morgan, it's nice to meet you," Kingsley said, standing up and offering his hand. Hunter Morgan walked over and shook it. "It's a matter of urgency. We need information on someone."

"Ah, you want me to find or spy on someone for you?"

"Neither," Kingsley replied. "Hermione Granger. You've been searching for her parents…"

"Ah yes, Miss Granger," the man said, nodding. "What do you want on her?"

"When you last saw her would be an excellent start."

"I haven't seen her since she hired me," Hunter said, frowning slightly. "I've owled with her, but I've never seen or spoken with her."

Kingsley was silent for a long moment. "Do you have an address for her?"

"She didn't give me one," Hunter explained. "Like I said, I just owl when I have information."

Kingsley nodded his head. "I believe that's everything we need you for," he said. "Thank you for your help."

The man left and Kingsley looked between Sirius and Remus. "Remus, it's the full moon tonight. Go home and prepare. Sirius, go and check if there's been any magic done in non-magic areas and get that compared with locations of known magic users and see what stands out."

"The full moon is not for a good few hours, I can handle something before then," Remus insisted.

Kingsley nodded, realising that there was no arguing with Remus. "Go and visit with Minerva. Find Hermione's old school records and any addresses her parents lived at. It'll give us places we can search."

Remus nodded and followed Sirius from the room. Hermione was still in England. They would find her.

...oOo...

Hermione wiped Oberon's mouth with the cloth before settling Juliet onto her shoulder and jostling her slightly whilst rubbing her back. She stayed in Oberon's line of sight and he watched in curiosity at what she was doing.

The tingle of the wards being touched made her freeze in her tracks. Without even thinking about it, the two babies were in her arms and she was running up the stairs. She warded the bedroom door behind her and focused on her two children and her location.

She tried to apparate.

Her stomach sank as she realised she wasn't able to. Something was stopping her, and that was probably an anti-appiration charm on the house. She reached for a blanket and began urgently transforming it into a portkey. It wasn't magic she was used to, and she wasn't sure if she had enough time.

She wasn't even halfway through the spell when the wards fell. She knew there wasn't time. She put the babies in the cupboard and set a silencing charm on the pair. She shot off a patronus to Harry, telling him the address she was at, and informing him that it was urgent he look in the cupboard. The same patronus was shot off a dozen more times until she heard feet on the stairs.

...oOo...

Remus was just arriving at the castle when he saw it: Hermione's Otter, running towards him.

He could only stare.

"Help us," came the urgent cry. "17 Pembrooke Road, Lambeth. Please hurry. If… if I'm… the wardrobe. Look in the wardrobe!"

Remus' heart raced at the urgency in her voice. She was in danger. He ran back to the gates of the castle and apparated as quickly as possible. As he appeared, he spotted Sirius, Harry, Neville and Ron all already rushing towards the house. He wasn't the only one she called.

He pushed himself to speed up. Behind him he heard the sound of apparition and forced himself to turn around to ensure there wasn't more danger arriving.

More friends and Order were arriving.

...oOo...

She had used a banishing charm to bring everything belonging to the children from the room and into a case underneath the bed. The spell wouldn't last a long time, but if something were to happen to her, perhaps whoever was in the house wouldn't know the babies were even there. As long as they were safe.

She wondered if this was how Lily felt and thought she'd throw up at the idea. She was in the same situation and understood more than ever how a parent would die to protect her child. She had no problems doing that for her own and was confident that Harry, Remus, Sirius or any of the others would turn up in time to at least protect her children.

As she stood in the centre of the room, the door burst open, the person on the other side not even bothering with an unlocking charm. The door ward wasn't as strong as the one around the property and she knew it'd only buy her a few seconds - a minute at the most. If she had more time, she could have used her blood to make them stronger, but the wards around the house drew magic from her and gained strength over time. The door didn't have that time.

She raised her wand as a Dolohov rushed in, and spells started to fly back and forth. Hermione had never fought that hard before, but she was determined that _nothing_ would happen to her children. She would do anything to stay alive for them.

Her shield was the most used. The address had been sent out to the entire order and she knew it would be only minutes before they arrived. She just had to hold them back for those few minutes.

There wasn't space in the room to maneuver and she kept away from the wardrobe. Guarding it would be suspicious, plus, no stray curses could go in the direction of her children.

She threw a stunner at Dolohov, watching him easily throw it aside with a flick of his own wand. His smile stretched across his face as she threw up her shield once more, her breathing laboured.

Four spells hit her shield in quick succession and she felt the blows pushing her back, an ache in her chest. She held firm, trying her hardest to disarm him, but couldn't slip the spell in.

As she twisted her wand to bring the shield up, Dolohov flicked his wand in an unknown movement. The light that shot from it was purple and Hermione felt it hit her in her chest.

She gasped for breath as the spell caused her body to contract hard and her revealed skin felt warm. She glanced down and noticed the blood trailing down her arm.

She felt faint and whispered the shield as the room darkened. She fought to stay focused. She had children to protect.

She had...

She…

...oOo...

Remus threw himself up the stairs after Harry as Sirius and Neville checked the downstairs with Ron. There was something telling him he needed to be upstairs, as though something was guiding him. Harry paused for a second to look in the first room, but Remus _knew_ that Hermione wasn't there. He knew she was in the last room. He threw himself into the room, much to the surprise of the wizard standing over her body. For a moment he thought she was dead and instead of using his wand, he dived at the wizard, a growl coming from his throat.

He wasn't in control anymore. It was minutes until the full moon, and though he had taken the potion, the wolf inside wanted nothing more than to get out.

Through the red haze, he heard a whisper of his name and turned, dropping Dolohov's body to the floor. Harry was quick to stop the injured man from getting up and Remus was by Hermione's side. He cast every spell he could think of to stop the blood and to stop any unknown curses from moving through her body.

"The… the wardrobe."

Sirius passed them all and threw the door open, his mouth dropping as he slowly turned.

"Fuck," he muttered, shaking his head at Remus. "Don't worry, Kitten, Harry will get you to the hospital."

"I can—" Remus began, his voice a snarl. He had no intention of letting Hermione go.

"No. You'll transform in a few minutes," Sirius insisted. "You'll hurt her. Harry, Ron, get her to the hospital. Remus, get home and transform."

When the room was empty of Hermione, Harry, Ron and Remus, Sirius called for Bill to come back in.

He was as speechless as Sirius. "Mum will know what to do," he decided. "Let's find their stuff. Hermione… this room is pretty empty, right? Hermione must have hidden it all."

"Just for tonight. Remus is going to take care of them from tomorrow," Sirius insisted firmly. "It's about time he took responsibility for something in his life."

Bill raised his eyebrows. "Remus, huh? It's always the quiet ones!"

Sirius nodded. "Even Remus wasn't immune to Hermione's charms," he said. "But… I'm certain Remus had no idea about this. Remus… he always feared… do you think they'll transform?"

Bill removed the silencing charm from the babies as Juliet began to cry. He reached for her as Sirius reached for Oberon. "They would have done so by now. But they seem overly agitated. Perhaps… perhaps they are like me?"

Sirius looked at the sobbing babies. "Anyone still here?"

"I am," Neville said, appearing in the doorway. His eyes widened slightly at the sight of the babies but he didn't say anything.

"Great. Hermione has their stuff hidden in here somewhere. Can you find it and get it ready to be moved?"

Neville nodded and began searching.

...oOo...

Molly stared at Sirius as he walked through the floo, a baby in his arms. "Sirius Black," she began, her hands finding her hips. "You—"

"Blame Remus," Sirius said, grinning at her.

Her eyes widened as Bill stepped through with another.

"Hermione has been found and she's in hospital, so… we're going to need your help tonight as Remus is transforming."

Molly pursed her lips at the idea of Hermione and Remus, but kept her thoughts to herself. "Aren't they beautiful," she finally murmured, reaching for Oberon. "Their names?"

"We're not sure," Sirius admitted. "We found their paperwork but haven't looked just yet. We just wanted them to get somewhere safe."

"Well, they'll be safe here with me," Molly insisted. "They can sleep in Ginny's old room as we started taking things out of there to do it up so it's the emptiest. Do you have their things?"

"Neville will be here in a minute with them," Sirius said. He looked down at the babies lovingly. "You be good for your Aunty Molly," he cooed at them. "Uncle Padfoot will be back to see you after checking on your mummy."

The babies started crying harder and Sirius moved back, offended. "Yeah, I'll let you know how she is when I've seen her," he said, before heading outside to apparate.

* * *

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	6. Chapter 6

**Misunderstandings  
**

 _Thanks to Lizzy for betaing_

* * *

Molly mixed up some formula for the babies and used a spell she had used more time than she could count to heat the bottles to the perfect temperature. Oberon was placed in Arthur's lap and he took the bottle and began to feed the baby as the radio played in the background.

Molly sat down in the armchair face with Juliet in her arms, smiling at the baby as little eyes searched around, before fixing on her. "Aren't they beautiful?" she cooed. "Open up for Grandma Molly."

"Dear, these are Hermione's children. As much as you see her as a daughter, she has her parents and Remus' own are still alive," Arthur said softly.

Molly pursed her lips before sighing. "Aunty Molly," she corrected herself. She brought the bottle to Juliet's lips and watched her drink eagerly.

"It almost makes me wish for another of my own," Molly said, smirking at the sight of Arthur's panicked expression. Well, she _had_ said 'almost'.

...oOo...

Putting the children down to sleep after their feed was a hard event. The pair were agitated, upset over the slightest thing, a small noise, a shift in positions they were being held in. She knew Bill had the same type of agitation and assumed it was par for the course of a child of a lycanthrope.

Once the babies had grown tired, though they were still upset, Molly and Arthur placed the pair back into the moses baskets that they had been brought over. It was almost three a.m. by this point, but they were clearly not settling.

"Go on to bed. I'm going to stay here with them tonight. They'd be unsettled due to the moon and the fact that there is no familiar magic around them. At least with mine here it may help that it's a consistent one from their feed. Better mine than none."

Arthur hesitated. "Do you want me to stay here with you?" he asked.

"No, dear, you have work tomorrow. You should have gone up to bed hours ago," she insisted. "I'll be fine here, don't you worry about me. I'll have Bill over to help tomorrow."

At Molly's insistence, Arthur turned into bed and Molly grabbed one of her heavy blankets and settled down on the sofa. She ended up staying awake the whole of the night, listening to the children stirring, occasionally getting up to fix their blankets, give them another feed and change their bums.

She knew that Remus would be having them back the next day and she'd have to have words with him about his relationship with Hermione. After all, a man his age should have more sense about him than putting Hermione in a position where she would feel the need to run away rather than tell anyone about her pregnancy.

...oOo...

Remus allowed Sirius to dress his wounds. Though he had taken the potion, seeing Hermione so close to death the previous day had his emotions running and the wolf fought against him.

Thankfully Sirius was there to do damage control and to patch him up.

Sirius was more quiet than usual, not making the jokes he always did and Remus knew something was up. He was scared to ask, scared of what Sirius would say.

"Hermione?"

"I went to see her before I came here," Sirius said. "She's in a bad condition, but she'll survive. We arrived just in time."

"Not quick enough," Remus muttered. "If I hadn't insisted to Kingsley that I could be useful, he wouldn't have sent me to Hogwarts. I would have arrived sooner and—"

"Remus, can you just not blame yourself for once? You wanted to find Hermione and you were putting in the effort to do so. You couldn't have known she would send her patronuses at that time."

Remus sighed, standing up from the battered bed and pulling on his clothes, wincing as he moved his arm. Dislocations were the worst. They had to be manually popped back into place and the pain lingered when he moved. "What's wrong?"

"I found out last night why Hermione ran away," Sirius said, standing up from the chair he had been sitting on and nodding for Remus to follow him. Remus did as he was told, heading up the stairs from the basement. "Bill?"

Bill grinned. "Feeling alright?"

"Yeah, I'm…" Remus trailed off. The sensation he felt in Hermione's parents' house was there. Something pulling at him like a string, leading him. He turned away from the two men and slowly made his way to the living room.

A scream made him rush forward, his leg aching as he put too much pressure on it, but he _needed_ to get in there and see what was happening. He knew deep down it was something important—something urgent.

He froze two steps into the room. On the floor in front of him there were two babies lying on a play-mat with arches of toys dangling over their head. Remus didn't even need to think about who these children were. _They_ were what drew him to Hermione's room the previous day. They pulled him through the house. The only way he'd have a bond with a child was if he was the parent.

"They didn't transform?" he checked, dropping down to his knees next to them and gently reaching out, lifting Oberon's arm and checking for injuries. His eyes moved over all of the revealed skin.

"I think they're like me," Bill offered. "They had a tough night, the moon had them on edge, but no transforming. They spent the night with my mum."

"Of course," Remus murmured. Molly was the sensible choice after all. "Their… their names?"

"We don't have the paperwork yet," Sirius admitted softly. "We've just been calling them ' _baby-girl_ ' and _'baby-boy'._ "

Remus let go of Juliet's leg, content with his inspection that they were unhurt over the full moon. "She… they are so tiny. She wasn't showing when she left. She must have already been pregnant!"

"Molly did a spell. They aren't even a month old yet. Hermione was about two months pregnant when we left. I was thinking that when Hermione was sick, it was because of this. She said she had an appointment to get checked out and the suddenly up and left to see her parents. She ran away from us all."

Remus reached for his son, gently picking him up. He couldn't think straight - he was in awe of the babies. Though he had always said that he didn't want children because of the risk of passing his curse on… he truly didn't mean that. No, he didn't want to pass the curse on, but he had always wanted children. Since the first time he held Harry two days after the boy's birth, he realised his own desire to have a family. His condition stopped him. He didn't want to curse his own children…

But here they were: his babies. They didn't have his curse. They were healthy and beautiful. He ignored the pain in his arm as he looked down at the small bundle. This was his son. He was desperate to know what to call him.

His eyes moved down to the floor, finding the little girl who was watching him in fascination. His daughter.

With some awkward manoeuvring, Remus managed to hold both of them in his arms, the injured arm hurting badly, but that didn't matter. He never wanted to put them down ever again.

...oOo...

"Put her against your shoulder and rock her," Molly ordered, holding Oberon in the right position. "Make sure the cloth is over your shoulder first. She may spit up and it saves having to change your clothes."

Remus adjusted the cloth on his shoulder and carefully lifted his little girl against it, mimicking Molly's movements. His eyes flicked between Molly and his daughter, ensuring he had it down.

"Very good. Gently rock her and you can tap her back or stroke it," Molly said.

Remus did as he was told and it was only a minute before the tiny baby let out a loud burp, causing him to laugh in shock.

"Keep her there," Molly insisted. "You may be able to sooth her enough to get her to sleep."

Remus gave a small nod and moved over to the sofa, settling back. He winced as he heard his daughter spit onto the cloth, glad he had listened to Molly.

"Remus Lupin, we need to talk," Molly whispered loudly.

Remus was already scared. Molly was the only person able to sound like she was shouting at him with just a whisper. "Yes, Molly?"

"We need to talk about what you did to make poor Hermione run away."

"Wait - so this isn't over the fact that I dated her?"

"Oh, I will address that," Molly replied.

Remus shook his head. "You can say how you feel about me being the cause of her running away and I will listen... but Hermione was old enough to enter into a relationship with me and the fact that we were dating is not any of your concern. That's not a topic you'll be welcome in discussing."

She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. "Remus, she was seventeen—"

"Eighteen," Remus corrected her. "She turned nineteen whilst we dated. Therefore she was of age and able to consent to the relationship. I am not discussing this further."

"She left," Molly hissed quietly.

"She did. I pushed her away thinking she'd be better off without me. I had no knowledge of the pregnancy at all. I thought if I ended it, she'd find a nice guy. I know Neville had a crush on her. She would have been better of with someone like Neville or Fred. I messed up and I'm very aware of it and I'll fix everything I've done somehow."

"But you are twenty years older, and—"

"Molly, Hermione is not your daughter. She's a grown woman who has lived through a war and has handled two children alone. I'm not going to repeat myself when it comes to our relationship. You can accept it happened, or you can leave."

Molly glared at him and turned away, but didn't leave. She moved over to the window, rocking Oberon to sleep.

...oOo...

Having left the twins in the care of Fred and George, who had been threatened with death if they performed any pranks near the babies, Remus finally found a minute to head to the hospital.

He had wanted to go there before, but he knew he had to take charge when it came to his children, rather than let Molly take over. Arthur had insisted on taking Molly out for the night, understanding quickly that Remus and Molly were close to arguing.

Harry hadn't moved from Hermione's bedside since she had arrived there, and judging by his expression, he had no clue about the children or Remus' relationship.

"Did you find out why she stuck around in England? Why she ran away from us?" Harry asked, reaching for Hermione's limp hand. "Was she just giving up on magic or something?"

Remus hesitated for a long moment before walking around the other side of the bed.

"You know, the first time I realised I wanted children and a family was when I held you for the first time, Harry," Remus began. "Though there are… what you could call side-effects, and the rare occurrence where a baby has been born a werewolf too, which is why I decided at a young age that I'd never father a child."

"Right…" Harry replied, looking confused.

"Then I started dating Hermione," Remus blurted out.

"Wait, you what?" Harry said, not expecting this.

"That's not it… I ended things. I thought I wasn't worthy of her and thought she'd meet someone better, so I wouldn't let her tie herself down to me. But… Harry, it turns out she was pregnant when she left."

"But… we would have noticed. Don't pregnant women… no, Hermione was throwing up around that time. I knew something was up but she said it was all fine. She saw a healer… the day she announced she was leaving." As he added it all up, he stared at Remus. "You got her pregnant?"

"I did," Remus said, nodding. "I didn't know until we arrived at her place. The children are fine."

"More than one?" Harry said, eyes widening.

"Twins. We don't know their names yet, but there's a boy and a girl," Remus said, smiling at the thought of them. "I've been with them all day and the twins are watching them now so I could come here to see Hermione. I wanted to come earlier, but… but I need to take responsibility for my actions." He looked down at Hermione. "Now she's back and I can fix all the messes I've caused." Harry opened his mouth to speak but Remus smiled. "Sirius already set me straight, Harry. I promise you that I'm going to push myself past all of the insecurities that I've built up over the years. I have children to think of now and… and I need to be strong for them at least."

"Well said," Hermione muttered from the bed. Her eyes were still closed and the men jumped. "Whose rotten idea was it to leave them with Fred and George? I swear to Merlin if my kids come back with gold and red hair, or able to float or something, I will hex everyone within sight… got that?"

Harry gulped at the idea. "How about I go and help them?" he suggested. "Glad you're awake." He brought Hermione's hand to his lips and briefly kissed it. "Don't do that again. But we'll catch up."

"What are their names?" Remus asked.

Hermione's eyes opened for a second but fluttered closed again without answering him.

Remus glanced at Harry who was lingering by the door. "I'll come back to check on you later," Harry promised before disappearing.

Remus settled in the vacated seat, taking Hermione's hand in his.

* * *

 **Review Please :)**


	7. Chapter 7

_Prompt: Everyone giving a new mother unwanted advice._

 **Misunderstandings  
**

Chapter unbetaed :)

* * *

Hermione had only woken up three times and Remus struggled to be in both places at once. Harry was barely talking to him, Molly only spoke to give her opinion on Hermione and Remus' prior relationship and Sirius was delighted to have the babies around.

He had insisted on moving Hermione back to Grimmauld Place, but Remus wouldn't let him. Hermione might not want to return. He did however set up a floo connection between the houses. He planned to be a proper father and be there for his children. Hermione had done enough of this alone and he was to blame for that.

He had put Hermione in a position where she felt so alone, that she couldn't tell anyone that she was pregnant. He had led her to believe that he was so against having children, she had to run away and hide them from him.

He had a lot of fixing to do. He needed to be there for his children - he had a lot of changing to do. He wanted to be a man they could look up to, and they wouldn't look up to a man that couldn't accept himself. They wouldn't look up to a man who could be weak like he was when he ended things with Hermione.

He wanted to be the man that fought in the wars. He needed to fight again for what mattered to him. His children. Hermione. Harry's respect. That would be something he'd have to earn over time - it all was.

But Remus was used to waiting, and he could wait once again. One day he'll prove himself to everyone.

Hermione stirred at his side and Remus leaned in closer, murmuring her name.

"Where are…" she gasped out, her voice hoarse. Remus grabbed the water, bringing the straw to her mouth. She sucked at it, gulping the water down eagerly.

"With Harry and Sirius," Remus replied. "Sirius won't leave them alone. He's spent more time with them than anyone."

"Well he should, he's a Godparent," she murmured. Her lips pulled up at the corners into an exhausted smile. "You look tired."

"I'm fine," he lied. Truthfully he had been spending every moment with either his children or with Hermione. He'd sleep properly when she was better. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel awful," she admitted. "Remus… what are you doing here?"

Remus looked at her guarded expression. "I want to make sure that you are safe and well," he said. "Even after everything I did, I never stopped caring for you, Hermione."

"You could have fooled me," she muttered. "You said—"

Remus sighed. "I'll answer everything you need me to, but not today. I'm not avoiding the questions," he added, seeing her expression. "I just want you to recover. We were told that stress is bad. Recover now and know that the children are in good hands. We've been unable to find birth certificates."

Her eyes were already fluttering closed. "Kitchen drawer has all their paperwork in a flowered folder. Do you think you can bring them to see me?"

"I'll ask the healer," Remus promised. He sat in silence for another ten minutes, until Hermione was fast asleep once more.

Ron showed up, glaring at Remus as he entered the room, and Remus left, eager to get the papers and see his children again.

...oOo...

"So?" Sirius asked, as Remus opened the folder. Remus shot him a look to tell him to be patient and he scanned the first certificate.

"Oberon Zachery Lupin," he murmured.

"Oberon?" Harry asked.

"It's a Shakespeare character," Remus pointed out.

"And one of Uranus' moons," Sirius added. "It really fits. So… what else is on there?"

"His Godparents are Harry and Ginny," Remus read.

"Awkward," Sirius chuckled. "She thinks you and Ginny are still together."

"There's so much to catch up on her with," Harry sighed. "So… Oberon… what about our little princess?"

"Juliet Hope Lupin…" Remus trailed off, unable to stop smiling. His mother's name. He couldn't wait to tell her that the baby was named after her.

"I haven't told my parents!" he realised, his eyes widening.

"Juliet is another moon from Uranus," Sirius murmured.

"Yup and everyone knows it's a Shakespeare name," Harry said. "So, she picked names that were themed with both hers and Remus' names. Of course Hermione would know these names!"

"Wait… do they both have Harry and Ginny as Godparents?" Sirius asked hopefully.

Remus grinned as he read through. "No. Actually Hermione seems more astute than the rest of us. Godparents are you, Sirius, and Luna."

Sirius' face lit up at the knowledge. "Hear that, princess? I'm your Godfather!" He lifted the baby up in the air before turning up his nose. "Remus, she stinks!"

"Go on Godfather, go and change her," Harry laughed.

Remus reached for Oberon as Sirius grumbled as he left the room with Juliet in his arms.

He'd contact his parents soon.

...oOo...

"Hermione, he's no good for you," Ron insisted once Hermione's eyes were open.

"What?" she murmured, trying to focus on his words. "Can you call the healer? I'm… I feel really off."

Ron flicked his wand, his patronus running from the room, before turning back to Hermione. "I mean it, 'Mione," he insisted. "Remus… he's too old for you. He's like over twenty years older. He's… you know I don't care that he's a Werewolf, but the rest of the Wizarding World does. This could stop you getting the jobs you want. Also—"

"Twenty," Hermione murmured. "Just twenty years. I know all of this, Ron. You know as well as I do that you can't choose who you fall in love with. I've fallen in love with him. I knew what he was like when I chose to pursue him. I knew he'd push me away… though I hadn't expected it to hurt so much or to feel so truthful. I thought I'd be stronger and be able to talk him around when the time came. As for the rest of the world: I don't care. Laws are changing thanks to Kingsley. Plus, my children will carry a dormant gene and carry Remus' name."

Ron took a deep breath and nodded. "Are you certain?" he asked.

"Yes, I am. I don't know if I'll forgive him for how he acted, but my love hasn't changed. It's not that easy."

"I'm with you there," Ron muttered.

Hermione let out a short laugh. "How _are_ things between you and Lav…" she cut off, coughing and gasping for air. The healer arrived instantaneously and sent Ron from the room.

...oOo...

"Hermione dear, you're awake. Good." Hermione opened her eyes to find Molly hovering over her.

"Molly?"

"Yes dear," she said. "I brought you some fruit and a few books that Ginny sent for you. She's off with her team and they won't give her the time off as you aren't blood related - she really tried though."

"It's okay," Hermione said, still tired from her earlier conversation with Ron.

"I wanted to talk to you about your relationship with Remus."

Hermione closed her eyes. The last thing she wanted to talk about was that relationship.

"It's not healthy for a man that age to be lusting after a young lady such as yourself. Especially since he was once your Professor. Men like that hold a certain amount of power of their students - they are someone to trust and look upto. It was wrong of him to enter into a relationship with you," Molly insisted.

Hermione stayed silent hoping Molly would stop. She knew that Molly was just trying to look after her, but she _hated_ how everyone assumed the worst of Remus.

"And you have such a bright future ahead of you," Molly continued. "You could work your way up in the Ministry - you could become the next Minister of Magic, I know you have it in you. But… even with the laws changing and some people being more open to Remus' condition, a relationship with him will change all of that. You have the rest of us to help you with the children and you can live the life you wanted."

"Molly, Remus is the father of my children. He'll help me. I have Sirius and Harry too. I haven't even considered what I'll do about work as of yet—"

"And the three of them work," Molly insisted, resting her hand on Hermione's hand. "If you want to go back to work, I'm here to help."

"Thank you," Hermione replied. "But Molly, I love Remus. There may not be a relationship between us anymore, but I don't regret what we had. If anything hinders me in the job I choose, then it's not the right job for me. As for him lusting after me… I was the one who pursued him. I made the choice to enter into the relationship, Molly. He didn't seduce me. I wasn't underage. He was the perfect gentleman and I was so happy until he ended things. I love him and we all know how powerful love can be."

Molly stared at her for a long time, her lips pursing. "And that Remus Lupin goes and breaks your heart like that," she said, angrily.

"Molly, please don't say anything. Let's just drop it. The kids…"

Molly's expression quickly changed into one of delight. "They are beautiful," she insisted. "The twins have really taken to them though. I warn you to be careful: they think your children are their proteges or something. Children of Marauders and twins too. I… just don't leave them around my sons too long as they grow up or they'll be playing pranks on anything that moves."

"I'm already concerned about that when it comes to Sirius," Hermione admitted. She tried to hide a yawn but Molly quickly spotted it. "Oh, I'm sorry for wearing you out, dear. I'll let you get some sleep." She pulled needles out of her bag and some wool. "What are the babies names?"

"Juliet and Oberon," Hermione said.

Molly nodded and began knitting. Hermione glanced at the half-made jumper on the needles. It was tiny.

"Are you making the babies Weasley jumpers?" she asked.

"If you don't mind?" Molly checked.

Hermione couldn't help but smile at the idea.

...oOo...

"I think you should give Remus a chance."

"I'm trying to sleep," Hermione muttered.

"He messed up, sure, but you know Remus is only book smart. I think all that chocolate has addled his brain and—"

"Can I really forgive him?" Hermione asked, sighing and opening her eyes.

"Yes," Sirius replied simply. "He screwed up, I won't deny that at all… but I think so much changed when he saw those kids. It was like Easter came early..."

"Easter? The saying is Christmas," Hermione pointed out, frowning slightly.

"Easter has more chocolate," Sirius confirmed. "Though advent calendars…" he trailed off, deep in thought about Remus' chocolate consumption and Hermione rolled her eyes.

"It'd take a hell of a lot for me to give Remus another chance," she said, hoping it put Sirius' comments to rest once and for all.

"Aha!" Sirius exclaimed, quickly forgetting about the advent calendars and Easter eggs that Remus consumed. "So he does have a chance?"

"What? I never said—"

"You said that it'd take a lot for you to give him another chance… which means that there is the possibility of another chance. If you didn't see anything between the pair of you, you'd say there's no chance at all."

Hermione stared at him, scared at what Sirius could do with that information. "Careful," she warned. "I'll remove your status as Godfather."

"You can't do that," Sirius replied smugly.

"You're right." She beckoned him closer, but Sirius eyed her, slightly wary at her smile. He leaned in slightly, but not enough that she could actually reach him if she made a grab for him.

"But…" he guessed when he felt safe enough out of her reach.

"It's hard to be Godfather when I end you," she informed him, offering her sweetest smile. "I'm trying to recover and I've had four people visit me today. I need to rest to recover. This isn't rest, Sirius. I just want to be quiet and not have to converse so much… it hurts. Can you help me?"

"On it." Sirius said. "So… you must love me to choose me over Ron as the Godfather."

"A decision I'm regretting," she muttered, closing her eyes and hoping Sirius would take the hint and go away.

He didn't.

* * *

 **Review Please :)**

 **Don't worry, Hermione isn't just going to jump into Remus' arms easily.**


	8. Chapter 8

_Prompt: A Mother tucking her child into bed._

 _Thanks to the guest that pointed out my planet mistake. All fixed now! I'm not certain how I got myself mixed up. :)_

 **Misunderstandings  
**

Chapter unbetaed :)

* * *

"I need to move back into Grimmauld Place," Hermione admitted reluctantly. "Not permanently, just for the time being of course."

Remus and Sirius tried not to show how overjoyed they were at the idea. "Why?" Sirius asked, knowing that there had to be a reason as to why Hermione had asked, rather than deciding to move back to her parent's house.

Hermione hesitated for a long moment before taking a deep breath and looking anywhere but at the pair. "The curse that I was hit with… the Healers have never seen the curse before. Yet again, I've been the subject of an unknown curse. Though they do believe I've healed, they also want me to be aware that it's an unknown curse and there could be side effects that haven't revealed themselves as of yet. So, in order to leave, they want me under constant watch."

"Which you can get at Grimmauld Place," Remus murmured, understanding her reasoning.

Hermione nodded. "I just want to get out of here and see my… our children. But to do that, there is a list of rules. It may actually be longer than the assignments I turned in back in Hogwarts. For example, I can't be out and about because it's too much strain and I have to take it easy at all times. Also, I have to be resting most—if not all—of the day. I can't be standing much, so I can't cook for myself. I can't breastfeed in case any part of the curse can be transferred…" she ran her hand through her hair angrily and Remus knew it was because it was affecting the children indirectly by making Hermione feel weak and making it so Hermione had to have a full-time carer. "I can't look after the kids alone either because what if I collapse when holding one of them or something? To sum it up, if I stay here, everyone will do everything for me, but I won't see my kids until I've recovered and who really knows how long that will take. But if I leave, I have to go where I can have help constantly. But my children can be with me. I can see them and I can at least tuck them into bed at night. It's worth having to… to admit how much help I need as long as I'm near them. It's been hell these last few days, not having them around me."

"Of course. We'll get a room cleared out for them and you," Remus insisted, sensing that Hermione was getting very upset as she tried to explain. "And you'll get all of the help you need, I promise you." He quickly decided to talk to Kingsley about some time off from work, or to cut back his hours for a while. The agreement they had already cut his hours briefly, but everything that happened was down to his stupidness and the least he could do was look after Hermione and his children.

Even it hadn't been his fault, he'd still have looked after her.

"Thank you." She closed her eyes, relieved at the easy agreement that she received with her request. "I'll make a list of what I need from my parents house for you."

Remus resisted reaching out and doing something like stroking her hair or holding her hand. He knew he lost the right to be so casual with his touches after breaking her heart, even if the flame of the candle never flickered, it still shone as brightly as before… but that didn't mean he didn't want to. More than anything, he wished he could reach for her as he had in the past, to offer comfort to her. He kept his hands firmly at his sides.

"Hermione, when you are back at home and feeling a little bit better, I was hoping you would agree to a small get-together," Remus began, trying to change the subject from what had upset her.

"Get together?" Hermione asked, curiously. After all, Remus wasn't one to want to get everyone together. She knew he was someone who preferred just small groups of people at a time, so his suggestion meant there was something important she wasn't aware about.

"I haven't told my mother and father about the children yet and would like to invite them down, but will only do it when you are feeling up for company as I'm sure that they'd want to meet you too," Remus explained. "I knew if I told them, they'd have come down already and the children have been upset over so many new faces, so we've been trying to keep it to the same few people around them as to not overwhelm them too much. I thought that if we waited until you were better, the children would be more settled around you."

A look of surprise crossed her face. "You want me to meet your parents?" she asked in disbelief. Remus couldn't blame her because he had wanted to keep their relationship a secret, and now he was telling more people about it.

He nodded firmly.

"Of… of course," she agreed nervously. She had always wondered if she'd ever be introduced to the Lupins and thought Remus would never tell them of his relationship with her. Well, there was none to speak of now, but he wanted his parents to meet his children and that was something at least.

"I'll talk to the Healer and see when they are hoping to spring you from here," Sirius offered.

"Two days," Hermione murmured. "As long as I don't have another fit or anything. They also need to teach one of you some spells to monitor me during the night."

"I'll talk to them about that," Remus insisted.

"Sunday?" Hermione offered. "We can have Sunday dinner and your parents…"

"That sounds perfect," Remus agreed, with a warm smile.

...oOo...

Thursday came around quickly and Hermione refused a wheelchair. She sat on the chair next to the bed, weak, pale and shivering, but point blank refusing to get in the chair. She glared at it each chance she got.

That's how Harry and Remus found her: arguing with a Healer and insisting that she could manage by herself, whilst Sirius stood off to the side looking like he was enjoying the argument far too much. They had come to the hospital because Sirius was supposed to be back with Hermione two hours before, but hadn't turned up. Remus had gotten worried and insisted they go and see if something was wrong.

Harry rolled his eyes at his Godfather and went to intervene. Remus was content to join Sirius and see how it panned out.

Sirius was right. It was very entertaining.

"Harry! They said I can do a bit of walking as long as I don't strain myself. I'd be walking to the lift and then flooing back."

"We're not sure you're fit enough to floo."

"Fine, I'll be catching a cab back," she corrected herself. "But it's still not a lot."

"It's hospital policy," the healer offered.

Sirius sighed. "I think we're just going around in circles now," he muttered. He walked over to the chair and grabbed Hermione, throwing her over his shoulder. "Remus, sign her out. Harry, get her bags." The healer looked relieved that the arguing had stopped and handed Harry the potions Hermione had to take. She finally turned to Remus.

"You remember the spells we showed you?" she asked.

Remus nodded his head. "I've spent hours at home practising them all," he assured her. "The monitors on both the bed and the chairs that Hermione will be using are set up to alert any adult in the house if there is anything wrong."

The woman nodded her head. "She'll need check-ups every three days. You know, it may be best if she stays—"

"It's best that she's at home with our children," Remus replied firmly. "There are many people able to be there so Hermione will not be left to do things herself. There will be no stress, no strain on her. We'll follow all of the rules. Unless you want to try and tell her that she has to stay here?"

The healer glanced at Hermione before shaking her head. "I'll be by on Monday at eleven for the check-up."

Remus signed the form allowing Hermione to leave and he walked next to Sirius, who was laughing as Hermione slapped at his back, angrily demanding to be put down. She gave a half-smile at Remus, pausing in her attack. "Thank you. I don't know what I would have done if she tried to keep me in."

Remus returned the smile. "Anything I can do to help," he replied.

They stepped into the lift and Hermione began to insist that Sirius put her down, but he refused. She gave Remus a pleading look but he shook his head, grinning at her. "Hospital policy," he insisted. "You're not allowed to walk."

"Traitors," she muttered, after Harry looked away from her pleading expression.

...oOo...

Sirius carried her all of the way to the chair in the living room. Hermione quickly glanced around, spotting the babies on the floor with Bill and Fleur sitting with them. The pair quickly left after greeting Hermione and asking after her health.

"Do you want some sleep first?" Remus asked, picking Juliet up as Hermione yawned.

"I'm exhausted already, but I want to see them first," she insisted. Her eyes were fixed on Remus' joyful expression as he gazed down at his daughter and placed a kiss on her forehead. Juliet was quickly placed into Hermione's arms and Remus picked up Oberon and settled the squirming baby on his lap.

Hermione murmured to her daughter, telling her how much she had missed her, and held her tightly. She breathed in her daughter's scent. Once she yawned again, Remus headed over, carefully placing Oberon into her arms and taking Juliet in his. Hermione didn't miss Remus kissing Oberon's forehead. She had never expected him to react so positively to being a father and she warmed to him slightly.

She turned her attention away. Yes, he may love his children. But that didn't earn her forgiveness for how much she had suffered because of him. She had been alone for months because of Remus.

She felt her eyes drooping and tore her attention away from her ex, choosing to talk to her son until he began to fall asleep in her arms.

"We have cots behind you," Remus said. "Do you want to tuck them in?"

Hermione nodded eagerly. It was one of the things she had missed the most. "Of course," she whispered. With his free hand, Remus helped Hermione up from the chair and they walked over to the cots.

"Why are these down here?" she asked.

"There are cots in here, the library and of course their bedroom," Remus replied. "I didn't want to miss hearing them crying if I was in another part of the house. We decided against having them in the kitchen, but it's close enough that I can hear them in the living room."

Hermione nodded. She didn't want to let the children out of her sight either so could understand Remus' protectiveness of them, always needing to hear them.

She placed Oberon in his cot first and adjusted the blanket so it was wrapped around him and tucked under his arms so it couldn't go in his face. She reached in and stroked his face gently, and ran a finger down his nose when he opened his eyes, causing him to shut them again.

"Wonderful trick," Remus whispered as he placed Juliet in the second cot, quickly securing her covers. He was delighted to find that running his finger down Juliet's nose had her closing them.

"You are my sunshine," Hermione began, softly. It was the song she sang to her children every time she tucked them in. Remus listened in silence until she had finished.

"Goodnight Juliet, Goodnight Oz," she murmured.

"Oz?" Remus whispered.

"Oberon doesn't leave much for nicknames," Hermione replied. "I'm glad my father's name is Zachery because otherwise I'd be stuck on a shortened name." Remus helped Hermione back to her chair and she sighed as she dropped down into it.

"The chair reclines," Remus pointed out. "The lever is on the side. Though I can stay in here and watch over them if you want to go to bed?"

"You are welcome to stay in here, but I want to stay too," Hermione insisted. With Remus' uncertain look, she smiled. "Really, it's fine. Stay."

By the time Remus returned to the room with a book to read, Hermione was fast asleep.

* * *

 **Review Please :)**


	9. Chapter 9

_Prompt: A Mother reading her child a story/singing a song_

 _Thanks to those that pointed out that I put 'hotel' instead of 'hospital' in the last chapter. I shouldn't post when I'm falling asleep. :p_

 **Misunderstandings  
**

Betaed by Lizzy :)

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Hermione woke to the sound of the twins crying and internally sighed. When one woke, the other wasn't far behind. She wondered if it was a twin thing and made a mental note to ask Molly. She lay still, mustering the energy to climb from the bed, when her door opened.

She spotted Remus' outline, but he didn't even glance in her direction. He moved silently towards the cots. Her eyes darted from him to the door where Harry was standing. He hadn't been home when she had gone to bed, so she assumed he was back from work. Remus passed Oberon to Harry and returned for Juliet, closing the door quietly behind him. Hermione strained to listen as Remus quietly informed Sirius to get the bottles ready.

She wondered to herself what had happened to Remus. He had changed so much those past few days.

Hermione found she couldn't sleep. Though she knew the babies were safe with the three men who lived with her, she found herself soothed by their presence in the room. She wondered if it was what she had been told at the hospital with the babies recognising her familiar magic. Perhaps it was her magic reaching out for the children.

Just over half an hour later, Harry appeared in the doorway, Juliet in his arms. He gently placed her into the cot, sneaking from the room. Remus appeared a minute later with their son. He carefully tucked Oberon in, before fixing Juliet's covers.

Finally he leaned down and kissed each of them goodnight before moving silently from the room.

Hermione listened to the babies breathing for a long time before managing to fall back asleep.

...oOo...

The next morning, Hermione found herself hitting Sirius once again as he carried her down the stairs. She hated being so helpless and surely there was another way up and down? Surely she could manage the stairs at least?

Remus and Harry unfortunately didn't agree with her when she raised the subject grumpily over breakfast. As she ate her fry-up, she found herself watching the men interact with the children that they insisted should join them at the table even though they were still so tiny. She wanted to laugh as she watched Harry and Remus eat with one hand, just so the babies could rest in the other arm.

The twins were engrossed with watching the men eat their breakfast and remained silent throughout the meal.

"Nappies," Remus said, as he set down his fork and wrinkled his nose. "Then we can put them on the playmet for a bit, they must have a lot of energy after sleeping so much in the night."

Hermione, although having her own routine back at hers, sat back to watch how the men handled everything. Part of her wanted to tell them how she did things and get them to follow her routine, but she knew that whilst she was in the hospital, routines were changed. She wanted to see how they handled things without her input.

Sirius and Harry nodded. "Your turn today, Moony," Sirius said, grinning widely.

Remus nodded. "You cooked so Harry's doing the washing up today," he replied. He took Oberon from the room to change his nappy and Hermione watched after him.

"Fatherhood has brought out the best in him," Sirius commented, trying to sound innocent and failing. Harry looked up from where he was eating, his eyes darting between the pair.

"That's… good to know," Hermione replied, trying to sound casual. She turned her attention to the drink at her side of her plate.

"He's trying to be a better role model for them," Sirius added.

"Well it's good he found someone important enough," Hermione snapped. Of course she wanted her children to respect Remus, and there was a lot about him to respect… but the fact that he had treated her so bad, but changed the moment he met the children upset her more than it should. Why had she not managed to change the way he saw himself? Why had she not been enough?

Sirius watched her carefully, noticing the change in mood. He didn't comment on the way she snapped at him, sensing her internal struggle with what was happening.

"You've always been important to him," Sirius finally said. "Remus doesn't want to be the type of man his children will be ashamed of. He believe he's done a lot for them to feel that way. He wants to be someone they could be proud of."

Hermione nodded, hating her reaction. Of course he felt like that. She had felt the same upon seeing her children. She wanted to be stronger for them, she wanted to be someone they could look up to. Of course Remus would set himself a goal now he was a father.

"They changed him so easily. I tried so hard, but…"

"But you're trying to change flaws that Remus has lived with since he was five. I'm not making excuses for him, only that he's got a mindset and it'd take a hell of a lot of work to get him out of it. I think the kids will be a big help on that front though."

"Ah well, it doesn't matter now," Hermione replied, standing up and picking up her plate to bring to the sink. "It's not like there's a me and Remus anyway. I shouldn't waste my time thinking about all of this."

Harry snorted. "Hermione, there's nothing wrong with admitting you still care about him, you know," he said, standing up and taking Hermione's plate from her hand. "Let me deal with that."

Hermione chose not to answer. Sirius was paying too much attention to reading her and she didn't want him to come to some _wrong_ conclusion about her and what she wanted. To tell the truth, Hermione didn't know herself. She just knew that she couldn't be with Remus whilst he had the same mindset as before. She had told herself that so many times…

But that was before she saw the changes in him.

No. He had his chance, so many of them, and ruined everything they had. She carefully shuffled from the kitchen to the living room and settled in the chair. She pulled her legs under her and seconds later, Remus returned with Oberon and set him down. The baby's eyes immediately found the arches over the mat and his feet began to kick.

Hermione watched until Juliet joined him, before reaching for one of the books on the table next to her.

...oOo...

Remus didn't say anything as Hermione carefully picked Juliet up into her arms. She hesitated, looking down at Oberon.

"What do you need?"

"I want to read to them. I usually prop the book up and have them both on my lap, but… I'm not sure I can handle it," she admitted.

Remus nodded towards the sofa. "I'll hold Oberon. He'll still hear the story."

Hermione bit her lip as she thought. She liked to read to the children whilst holding them both in her arms, but she couldn't do that. She had been advised against using too much magic, so couldn't use that to hold the book up and turn the page.

"Sure," she agreed, knowing it was temporary. It was until she was better. She shuffled over to the sofa and took a seat at the end, curling her legs under her. She lifted her wand, realising she didn't have the book. "Accio Alice in Wonderland," she said. She dropped her wand onto her legs and held her hand up, ready to catch the book.

It was only a few seconds before the book flew in the door and into her hand. Once it was safe, Remus crossed the room with Oberon and took a seat in the middle of the sofa, angling the baby so he could see Hermione.

She opened the book and began to read, not wanting to think about how she had imagined the pair of them being like this before, even though Remus said he never wanted children.

She had a lot of questions to ask him, but now wasn't the time. She wanted to recover a little and feel more like herself. Plus there was the get together with his parents. She wanted to get past that first because it was scary, meeting his parents for the first time.

Even if they weren't together, she reminded herself firmly.

"Do you think that it'd be okay for me to read to them once you tire?" Remus offered, clearly not wanting to step on her toes. Hermione nodded her head, unable to refuse.

Yes, just how she always imagined it could be.

* * *

 **Review Please :)**


	10. Chapter 10

I have written out a plan for this story. We are potentially looking at around 20 chapters. :)

I'll try and update this quickly.

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed :D

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 **Misunderstandings  
**

Betaed by Lizzy :)

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The babies were two months old by the time the doctor gave Hermione the all clear to be a little more active. They were still concerned about her, but to a lesser extent. Nothing had shown itself from the curse so far, so the Healers believed that nothing would, but still wanted her to take it easy and be monitored in case it did. It was uncommon for untested spells to have side-effects, but occasionally, something would happen, so the Healers knew to be on alert just in case.

"You haven't invited your parents over," Hermione blurted out that same evening when Remus had brought over a book for them to read to the children.

"I haven't," he agreed, opening the cover of the book and choosing to focus on it. "Would you like to read, or—"

"Remus." With her free hand, she reached out to push the book closed. "What's going on? Have you even told them about the twins?"

Remus glanced up at her hurt tone. "Whatever you're thinking, that is not it," he insisted softly. "I wanted to tell them when they could meet the children, but you've been very ill and I know that if they came, you'd not stay in your chair or bed. Plus, I've been a little tired. I'll invite them soon."

Hermione turned her gaze to the window. She knew how hard looking after the twins was. Remus was working from home whilst doing pretty much everything for the kids. She couldn't fault him. Of course he was tired.

"Well, the doctor said that I can do a little bit more," Hermione replied. "They said that I don't have to always be in the bed now." She reached out, her hand resting on Remus'. "Thank you, Remus. Thank you for everything you've been doing. Thank you for helping me and looking after the twins."

"I'm their father," Remus replied firmly. "That's my job, so there's no need to thank me for doing it." He made no attempt to move his hand away. "Sunday," he said. "I'll invite them this Sunday if you're feeling up to company."

The twins chose that moment to start shouting for attention. It was time for their book and all of the talking between their parents wasn't making for good stories.

Hermione smiled. She moved her hand away and Remus opened the book again.

...oOo...

Hermione was already a little worn out from the morning. She had insisted on helping cook, though she had been given tasks that would keep her sitting, like peeling carrots, whilst Sirius dealt with the main meal. Remus had been bathing the twins and Harry had been cleaning up.

She wanted to do more and had been getting more and more annoyed at Sirius, Remus and Harry for refusing her, but at the same time, she had tired quickly and knew they were right. It was infuriating.

She just wanted to get better so things could go back to normal… not that she knew what normal was anymore. Getting better meant that she could move back to her parents' house, but she wasn't sure about doing that. Though her and Remus weren't together, they all had their routine and by moving away, he'd see his children less… or he'd be at hers so much, there would be no point on moving away from him.

"They're coming," Sirius suddenly said, dusting off his clothes nervously. Hermione swayed slightly next to him and Remus quickly reached out and took Juliet out of her arms. "They can come through to the living room to see them," he said. "Sirius, help Hermione." He disappeared with the twins.

Sirius wrapped an arm around Hermione to steady her and the floo lit up.

A woman stepped through first. She had dark blonde hair that was heavily streaked with grey. She immediately turned, offering her hand to the man who followed through. The pair glanced around, not knowing Hermione or Harry, and their gazes fell on Sirius.

"Hope, Lyall," Sirius said, with a smile. "Great to see you again."

Hope walked over and placed a kiss on Sirius' cheek. "Lovely to see you again too, darling." She glanced at Hermione. "Your date?" she asked.

Hermione noticed that there was no judgement in the woman's eyes. She wondered if there would be any if Hope Lupin found out that she had actually been involved with Remus and not Sirius. After all, Sirius did tend to get quite the reputation...

"Not mine," Sirius replied cheerfully. "Mine is younger." Hope Lupin folded her arms and raised her eyebrows at him.

"Only by a year," Sirius quickly added.

"What? Who are you dating?" Harry asked. "I keep trying to set you up and you never said you were seeing someone."

Remus appeared, saving Sirius from having to tell Harry that he was dating Luna. "Mum, Dad," Remus said in greeting as he walked over and hugged his mother. He kissed her cheek and walked over to his father.

"Remus, introductions," Lyall murmured quietly.

"Ah, yes." Remus turned. "Harry, these are my parents. Mum, Dad, this is Harry Potter."

"The last time we saw you, you were just a baby," Hope replied with a smile. "It's nice to see you've grown up well."

"As well as anyone could after everything you've done," Lyall replied, before Hope nudged him in the ribs with her elbow.

"And this is Hermione Granger. She also lives here."

Hope smiled warmly at her. "It's lovely to meet you, Hermione," she replied. "Now. I have the feeling that this meal was called for something more important than meeting Harry, Hermione or finding out Sirius has a new girlfriend. Lyall brought firewhiskey just in case, though I don't touch the stuff."

"Hope, we were doing shots about four months ago," Sirius replied.

Hope sniffed. "You are a bad influence, Sirius Black," she accused. "That was my first taste ever of firewhiskey. Terrible stuff."

Hermione stifled a giggle.

"Well, you are right, but I'd hold off on the firewhiskey," Remus said, clearly nervous. "Come on, Mum, why don't you come into the living room and sit down?"

"Oh my. Do I need to sit down for this news? Is this the 'I knocked someone up' news?" She glanced at Hermione's stomach hopefully. "I've been looking forward to this for years."

"Uh…" Remus glanced at Hermione too. "Yes and no," he finally answered. He offered his arm and led her through, with Sirius helping Hermione in.

Hope turned to look behind her but noticed that Hermione was struggling slightly. "Dear, what happened to you?"

"Death Eater attack. I'm still in recovery," she admitted.

Hope moved aside. "Sirius, get Hermione into a chair quickly," she insisted, allowing the pair to pass. "Three men in this house and not one of you can make sure she has somewhere to sit? Didn't I raise you better than that, Remus?"

"Yes, Mum," Remus muttered and Hermione grinned to herself. This was going to be one hell of an amusing visit.

...oOo...

Hope jumped when she heard a wail come from the room that Hermione was just about to enter. "What on Earth?" she muttered, moving forward more quickly now. She froze three steps into the room, her eyes falling on mats on the floor with small children laying on them.

She stared for a minute, before turning her gaze to Remus questioningly, wanting to know if they were his or not, though the amber eyes were a clear give-away.

He looked extremely guilty, his eyes darting to Hermione before he decided that looking at his children was the best place to look.

"Well, this was unexpected," Lyall offered passing her and heading over to the children. He didn't hesitate to scoop up the closest one. "What are their names?"

"She's Juliet Hope Lupin," Hermione offered, watching Lyall as he headed to the sofa with Juliet in his arms. She was glad that he was quicker to overcome his shock at seeing the babies.

"Go ahead, Mum," Remus said. Hope slowly moved forward and leaned down for the other baby. "And this one?"

"Oberon Zachery Lupin," Remus replied. "We've taken to calling him Oz."

"Moon names. So they _are_ yours?" Hope checked.

"They are," Remus assured her with a proud smile.

"If I wasn't holding my beautiful grandson, I would shake you," Hope said, narrowing her eyes. "You should have told me the moment you found out your girlfriend was pregnant!"

Remus opened his mouth to inform them that Hermione wasn't his girlfriend, but hesitated. "I was very clear to Hermione that I never wanted children," he replied instead. "I was so clear about not wanting this, that Hermione was scared to tell me."

Hope's lips pursed as she stared at her son. Hermione felt slightly bad for Remus: his mother looked so disappointed at him. Hermione reminded herself that it was his own fault.

"I love them," Remus assured her. "I didn't want children because I didn't want to risk them to my curse, but I'm glad I have them. Once I found out, I've tried to be a good parent."

"And you have been," Hermione quickly assured him.

Remus snorted. "How?" he asked, turning around and frowning at her. "I ended things with you, Hermione. What we had was perfect and I took every chance to make you regret what we had and to ruin it for you, yet you stayed until I broke your heart. Then I put you in a position where you were unable to tell me that you were pregnant. I caused you to run away. Looking after the children in this short time is nothing."

Hermione sighed. "You weren't there before, but you are now," she insisted. "You and I… we still have a lot to talk about, but don't ever doubt your parenting skills."

Hope looked between the pair. They weren't together, which was a terrible shame, but she could see the girl was in love with her son. She knew Remus better than anyone and knew instantly how he had handled everything.

"Did he end things because he's a werewolf?"

"That may have come up a few times," Hermione replied rolling her eyes.

"Remus is quite stubborn," Hope sighed.

"He just didn't get it that I don't care about any of that, Mrs. Lupin."

"If you're going to talk to me like I'm not here, I'm going to make tea," Remus grumbled. "Excuse me."

"Now, Hermione, it's a Lupin thing," Hope insisted. "Lyall was like that. Doubtful all through our relationship. Worried that I wouldn't want him because I'm just a muggle and he's a wizard. Worried because he couldn't do muggle things like use a washing machine. He tried to leave me because it was his fault that Remus got bitten. Lupin men are useless. No matter what we've done, Remus has continued to doubt himself in every possible way. When he has something good, he runs rather than accepting it."

"Don't I know it!" Hermione muttered. "But he's here looking after the children. He's trying hard to fix all of this. He's changing."

" _Can_ he fix all of it?" Hope asked, ignoring everyone else in the room.

Hermione looked at everyone. "Maybe, I don't know," she admitted. "He wouldn't even tell Sirius we were together."

Hope looked at the young woman, her lips pursing even more. "Remus really made a mess of things, but maybe being a father will change him enough for him to become more sensible and accepting," she said. "Just wait and see how things go, dear. You may find yourself falling for him all over again."

Hermione averted her gaze and Hope knew she was right. Hermione was clearly besotted with her son. They had children together and Hermione was clearly very accepting. After all, who hadn't heard of the bills that Hermione had helped write to offer magical beasts and creatures more rights?

Yes, Hermione would make a perfect daughter-in-law indeed.

She smiled warmly at Hermione. "Well, our door is always open to you and the children. Even if you and Remus aren't together, you're welcome to visit the cottage. We're near a beach and it's nice in the summer. We'd love to have you!"

"Thank you, Mrs. Lupin," Hermione replied with a warm smile. "I think that sounds nice. I may take you up on that offer."

"What offer?" Remus asked, walking into the room with a tea-tray.

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 **Review Please :)**

 **2076 words**


	11. Chapter 11

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed :D

My internet is currently down and goes up randomly for about 2 minutes before cutting out, so it may be slow updating until it's fixed...

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 **Misunderstandings  
**

Betaed by Lizzy :)

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Hermione was drained by the time the Lupins left. She was glad to have finally met them. Before the twins, she'd never have thought Remus would introduce her to anyone. It was horrible feeling as though she was his dirty little secret or something.

But now Remus seemed eager to show off his children. He had something to be proud of and Hermione wasn't going to let Remus think badly about himself when it came to them. He was an excellent father and anyone could see that he completely adored his children. Maybe he made bad choices in other aspects of his life—after all he had ended their relationship—but she was confident he wouldn't make bad choices when it came to his children.

Perhaps he wouldn't be so selfish now that he had two babies that would always come first.

Despite Remus having acted like he was doing it for _her_ own good, Hermione found his actions selfish. Remus had ended things because _he_ decided that he was no good. _He_ decided that Hermione would be better with someone else. Everything was about what Remus thought or Remus wanted.

Hermione pushed the thoughts from her head once more. She wouldn't let herself think about those things just yet. She had to recover a bit more first and she had to get her mind straight.

...oOo...

 _Lyall Lupin walked through the cottage to the bright kitchen. The back door was open and Hope had put a towel out on the grass and laid down on her stomach with a book._

 _Lyall watched his wife for a few moments. She was content, though hot, and Lyall sent a spell over to cool her down a little bit._

 _He turned to go back inside when a sheet of paper on the table caught his eye._

 _"Trinculo and Ophelia," he read from the list, before looking towards his wife. "Dear, what are these?"_

 _Hope looked over from her book, squinting at the sun in her eyes. "Oh. Just some moon names."_

 _Lyall was unconvinced. "Right. Aren't they from Shakespeare?" He sighed. "Hope, Remus and Hermione aren't together. We have two perfect grandchildren. What more could you want?"_

 _"For Remus to step up and win Hermione back. He has a good amount of years in him and Hermione is young. We could have more grandchildren," Hope decided._

 _"Please don't get your hopes up. Remus reacted well to these two, but he may not in the future."_

 _Hope nodded and smiled before turning back to her book. She knew her son better than anyone. Remus always claimed he didn't want children, but Hope knew without a single doubt that his concerns were about whether the children would be born with his condition._

 _Remus may freak out and panic or run away with news like that: Hope knew him well enough after all, but he would always run home to her if there was something big. She would set him straight or help him to realise where he was going wrong, and he'd go back and face everything._

 _Had she known about his relationship with his former student, she'd have encouraged him to stay with her. He clearly only had eyes for her, and she could see the extent of Hermione's feelings for her son. Had he told her, she would have done some damage control and fixed things before Hermione had to run away. She would have ensured the pair would have stayed strong._

 _She closed her book, gathered her towel and headed inside. She was too focused on her family now and knew she wouldn't be able to take in any more of her book. She slipped off her flip-flops and headed into the living room where Lyall was relaxing with his eyes closed, listening to the radio._

 _She quietly dropped down into the armchair and reached for her knitting needles. She knew what Molly Weasley was like and knew she'd have to make these fast to ensure they were the babies first handmade blankets._

...oOo...

Over the next few days, Hermione insisted on making lunch in the house. Sirius and Harry were back at work and Remus headed into work in the mornings after helping Hermione downstairs with the twins. Breakfast was always on the table, waiting, and Harry and Sirius would assist in feeding the children so Hermione could eat and get her strength up.

At one, the three men would return home for lunch. Hermione would make up some easy sandwiches to feed them all, and Remus would spend the rest of the day at home helping her with the children, whilst working at the desk in the corner of the room.

Remus was always making her drinks and taking breaks to come and sit with her and hold the children. Sometimes one would be in his arm as he worked at his desk, reading and cooing at the baby at the same time.

Hermione couldn't deny that it was everything she had wanted, but forced herself not to think like that. If Remus wanted her, he would have tried to win her back or even talked about it with her. But the way she saw it, she was the mother of his children and maybe just a friend again.

But all that mattered now were her children. They had two loving parents who got along well with each other. Two uncles/godfathers who doted on them, and many other family and extended family who would do anything for the little ones.

Losing Remus was a small thing in the big picture that she should be looking at, she tried to tell herself, though she knew that nothing about their relationship was small.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Hermione smiled at Remus as he joined her on the sofa, holding out a square of chocolate he had broken from his bar. Hermione accepted it and popped it into her mouth.

Once the delicious chocolate had been devoured, she turned her attention back to Remus.

"Are we able to talk about what happened?" she asked.

Remus hesitated for a moment, glancing towards the children that were both asleep in their rockers.

"Of course," he finally said. "I thought I'd have more time to think about what to say or how to explain myself, but perhaps I'll never have enough time to do that."

"I just need to know—"

"I panicked," Remus blurted out. "Hermione, you wanted a relationship that was out in the open. You wanted marriage and children and growing old together. I've spent my life thinking terrible things about myself and hating myself and it's not something that I can change overnight. During Hogwarts, I… I suppose it got better, I had friends who didn't _care_ about what was inside of me, they made me feel more human… but once I lost them all, I was alone again. There was no-one to shout at me when I started hating myself. I stayed away from my parents because I couldn't let my mother see that side of me. Then I came back into Harry's life. I felt like I had a purpose again. Harry, the Order… Sirius. But as time went on and you grew into this beautiful woman and the war ended and you moved here, you showed me this other side of you."

Hermione stayed silent, taking in everything Remus was saying. He usually deflected when there was a problem or he needed to answer something he wasn't comfortable with. She wasn't going to interrupt him now that he was finally letting it all spill out.

"I fell in love with you," he said, after a long pause. "And even though neither of us said it, the candle said it all to me. I caught myself looking at rings when passing a shop in Diagon Alley and wondering what would suit you. That's when I knew I had to end it. It didn't help when Molly was constantly trying to set you up with 'men your own age' but no-one more than a few years older because older men looking to date someone your age were just trying to take advantage. She didn't know about us, but... " he reached for her hand, clutching it in his.

"So instead of saying I wanted to make things public or that I saw a future with you, I made the stupid mistake of ending things. I thought if I stayed with you, I'd drag you down with me. That your reputation would be ruined and that you'd be stuck with me. I wondered if there would come a day where you realised that you didn't want what I had to offer, but stayed with me out of some sort of obligation to me because of the curse or something. I wanted you to have better than me. I know I should have taken your feelings into consideration and Sirius has explained all of that to me and I'm sorry, Hermione. I don't know how I'll ever fix what I've done."

Hermione was speechless. She hadn't expected the confession of love. Had he fallen in love with her back then, or was he _in love_ with her.

"Remus, I'm not sure how to fix it either," she finally said, breaking the silence that had fallen over them. "But you have the candle and know that my love for you has never wavered. You so cruelly broke my heart and you did it with such ease. How can I trust you again?"

Remus nodded. "All you have is my word, but that's not valuable until I can show you that I am a man who can keep it," he replied. "We don't need to decide anything now, Hermione. We can continue as we are. We can raise the children here together and if anything changes at all, we can just talk about it at another time. We can't force something that it's not time for. All I can say is that I'm sorry for how I've treated you. I'm so sorry for making you feel like you had to leave. My behaviour was appalling and I will never treat you like that again."

Hermione nodded relieved. She leaned into Remus and his arms wrapped around her.

Neither of them moved until the children woke up.

* * *

 **Review Please :)**


	12. Chapter 12

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed. Sorry I haven't had a chance to reply to any reviews at all on this story yet, but I will try and get around to it!

So, this story took a new turn. After the last chapter, it was supposed to be about Hermione getting better and the pair moving on with their lives... but I've been asked about the curse that Hermione was hit with. Turns out a few of you are wondering if there is more to it.

Well, that inspired me to change my story plan. (Don't complain, that just means more story!)

Sorry for the gap in chapters. I was away on holiday.

Also - the chapters aren't really much about the twins at the moment, but that _will_ change. In future chapters, you'll see a bit more of them.

* * *

 **Misunderstandings  
**

Betaed by Lizzy :)

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Hermione found that things were much easier around Remus after their talk. Knowing that Remus loved her in return eased up a pain in her chest. She had never known the extent of his feelings and had wondered in the past. There had been some dark times during the pregnancy where she had found herself in tears, thinking that he hadn't even cared that much, as he was able to just cast her aside.

But now she knew the truth. She knew Remus would never say that unless he truly loved her. He wouldn't lie about that. She trusted his word on the matter, even if he still had to earn her trust back on the other matters.

She could see the look in his eyes sometimes when she caught him staring at her. The look told her that without a doubt, he'd get on his hands and knees and beg for her to take him back. But they both knew Hermione wasn't ready to do so, so he made no move to ask.

Though Hermione had always planned on heading back to her parents house upon her recovery, the idea began to slowly leave her mind as the days passed.

She could see how dedicated a father Remus was to his children. He was offering her as much support as he possibly could. He was up in the night, giving bottles and changing nappies. He was at her beck and call. He had taken as much time off work as possible and then cut back his hours for his children. Hermione knew that Remus didn't pay rent at the house, and Sirius never let them give him money towards food… but even so, Remus had other expenses and he didn't complain once about having less income. He put his children first like any man should.

In fact, he had offered her money for the kids as a form of support too and she had turned him down. After all, the children didn't cost much. Baby clothes were cheap and Bill and Fleur had been bringing stacks of Victoire's clothes over as she grew out of them. Some were neutral but most were for girls, which meant Hermione only had to get a few things for Oberon. Hope appeared to be the master of the charity shops, constantly appearing with cute outfits that looked brand new that she managed to get for 50p.

So instead of giving money, Remus would use the offered amount on the children. Hermione didn't miss the additional packets of nappies, or the extra tin of formula or the old bottles being replaced by new ones… but she didn't say anything either. It was Remus' right as a father to buy when he saw fit.

What Remus didn't realise was that with each day and each little thing he did to help her and the children, with each time he came in the room whilst she was struggling to get out of bed to help with them, Hermione was starting to forgive more and more.

The flame on the candle burned a little bit brighter and Hermione quickly realised that she couldn't take the children away from Remus. She couldn't bear to be apart from him herself either. Their home was where Remus was and one day… when she could trust him again and if Remus still wanted her, they could be a family.

Plus she loved being able to spend this time with Harry and Sirius and Luna when Luna came to visit, which was more often now that the secret was out. She liked spending time with Remus' mum and Molly when the pair would visit and fuss and insist on taking her and the kids for a walk and for a cup of tea at the nearby cafe.

...oOo...

Things were improving so well for Hermione, except for the search for her parents, that she disregarded the headaches when they began. She had suffered headaches before back in Hogwarts and just assumed that it was the fact that she was working again and her mind had to adjust to what she was doing.

The twins were six months now and they didn't need to wake every 3 hours for feeds. They were also able to be left to play whilst Hermione did her research, not demanding constant attention.

Hermione liked to get the work done in the morning for Kingsley. That meant that in the afternoon when Remus returned home, she didn't have much left to do for the day and the pair could spend the time together with their children.

For the past week, the headaches had increased, but Hermione was confident they would go away. A pain potion usually did the trick, but she took it mid morning so Remus wouldn't worry. Remus was constantly worrying about her and her health.

An hour later and the pain had returned. Hermione moved away from her research, heading to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. She decided to stop early with the research. Perhaps take the next day off and give the headaches a chance to go away on their own. She scolded herself, certain that she was just overdoing things like everyone had warned. As she sat down with her cup, she decided to halve her workload. She'd talk to Kingsley about that once Remus returned. After all, she had a report for her findings to give to him too.

She sipped at the hot drink and glanced over the children. They were still taking their mid-morning nap. She took her time to drink the tea and with a flick of her wand, sent the books to the shelves in the corner of the living room.

She sighed, feeling tired herself. She staggered over to the desk, setting the cup down. Wearily, she waved her wand, summoning a blanket and a pillow from upstairs so she could take a nap whilst the kids were still asleep.

With that last spell, the wand fell from her hand and everything went black.

...oOo...

Remus sat at his desk, looking at reports and sorting them into piles. Ones he could take home with him on one side of the desk and ones that could wait on the other. He hated taking too much work home with him because for once, something mattered more than his job: his family.

He would do his work, but once home, he wanted to spend time with Hermione and his son and daughter. The work would wait until the children were having their afternoon nap, or he'd wait until Hermione headed off to bed.

He paused on a tricky file. He knew that if he didn't take that report home, it'd take up a lot of time the next day, and Remus didn't really want to deal with it on a Friday because he didn't want to have to bring extra work home on a Friday to do over the weekend. With a sigh, he set it with the three other reports to work on that evening.

As he reached for the next file, his hand froze. He could feel a buzzing on his skin and it took him a long moment to realise what it meant.

It was the charms that the hospital had taught him. The charms that were linked to Hermione's health. They were vibrating harder against his skin and he jumped up and grabbed his wand.

Ignoring the files, he ran from the room. The floo network was too far away, as was getting outside to apparate home. He quickly realised that the closest floo was in the Minister's office and this _was_ an emergency. He turned away from the elevators and rushed up a flight of stairs nearby. He came out of the stairwell and raced to Kingsley's office.

"He's in a meeting, you…" the secretary trailed off as Remus ran past her and into the room. He barely looked at the Minister before throwing himself into the floo and heading home.

He stumbled from the floo just in time to see Hermione's eyes flutter closed as she fell to the floor. He rushed to her side, quickly searching for a pulse with his fingers. He was relieved to find one.

"You're okay," he whispered, reaching to smooth the hair from her face, before pulling out his wand. He watched her chest rise and fall, before casting a healing charm on her.

A few seconds later and nothing changed. Remus tried to revive her, but it had no effect.

Finally he cast a stasis spell so he could move her to the hospital, but once the spell hit, his eyes fell on her chest.

It wasn't rising and falling as it had been. Her breath was coming out weaker, more shallow.

Remus murmured his most used charm - the one that helped him breath when he had done damage such as breaking a rib. His wand dropped from his hand as her chest stopped moving completely.

He brought his mouth down to hers and began CPR. Magic wasn't helping and he was scared that his magic had made things worse. There had been cases before where magic had turned against the user, and in the back of his mind, he recalled the spell from months before. Could that spell have done something to Hermione? Caused her weakness to magic?

As he brought his mouth away and pressed down on her chest, Kingsley stepped through the floo. Remus turned his head briefly. "No magic!" he demanded. "We need to get her to a muggle hospital. I think magic is making this worse."

Kingsley nodded in understanding. "We can't apparate or floo," he replied. "If magic is hurting her, those would be too much. Get her onto the street and I'll knock on a neighbour's door. We can say she collapsed."

"The kids?"

"I'll call someone to watch them."

"My parents," Remus said. He touched Hermione's neck, feeling a faint pulse and realised that she was trying to take breaths, though they weren't enough. "Let's get her out of here, this whole place is humming with magic." He pushed his arms under her legs and lifted her from the floor. "Quickly."

Kingsley moved ahead of him and opened the door. Remus rushed out and set her down on the pavement, hating that he couldn't even use a cushioning charm in case his fears were correct.

It wasn't long before people were gathered, but Remus ignored them all. He focused on what he had learned in the class a few years before, when his mother had dragged him along to her CPR class, insisting that since she didn't have magic, she could do with a skill such as this. He was glad now that he attended, as it had never seemed worthwhile before and he only agreed so Hope wouldn't be alone.

He didn't stop as he heard the wail of the ambulance sirens. He didn't move aside until the paramedics were shaking him to get his attention, asking him to move.

It felt like a nightmare as he got into the back of the ambulance with her, insisting that he was her partner… well, he was as close as… and looked at her laying on the bed. A mask covered her mouth, giving her the breath that she was struggling to make herself.

"You did well," the paramedic told him. "Even with those small breaths, there isn't enough air getting to her lungs. We'll get her to St. Thomas' hospital and get her set up."

Remus could only nod his head. He was worried about the children waking up to find Hermione and him both gone and hoped they would stay calm with whoever looked after them. He knew Kingsley wouldn't leave until he had someone Remus would trust watching them. Be it his parents, Sirius and Harry or even Molly. Remus knew they were in good hands and forced his mind back to Hermione.

The twins didn't need him as much. It was Hermione who needed him now. Hermione was his top priority.

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